


Enemy Mine

by captainmazzic (lordtarantula)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Cross-faction relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, stereotypical stranded on a deserted world storyline, this was an rp, unfinished story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 15:01:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15798942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordtarantula/pseuds/captainmazzic
Summary: A skirmish in space between a Rebel freighter and an Imperial cruiser results in escape pods crash-landing on the deserted world below. Two survivors - one Imperial, one Rebel - have to learn how to work together to survive on a harsh and unknown planet.This started out as a solitary world-building exercise, turned into an RP, and has subsequently been languishing for a year without any updates. So with the go-ahead of my RP partner, I'm posting it here. I'm hoping to continue this or re-write the whole thing at some point so the perspective isn't so disjointed, but for now I'm just posting it as-is.Since it was an RP, the character POV changes from paragraph to paragraph, marked by a ***. Hopefully it's not too confusing.





	1. Day One: Before Meeting

The Moro System was dominated by a dim orange-red star, remote, without major resources, and with only one habitable world among its 4 planets and 11 moons. Although “habitable” doesn't necessarily mean actually being _inhabited_. At least not by any sentient race. Moro Cov IV was far enough from its star that the climate was cool at the equator and frigidly cold at the poles. It was a dim world, and the complex tidal forces caused by the four small moons orbiting the planet created rushing tides where the oceans meet the land. Here there were no viable resources and nothing of value to tempt anyone to settle its wilderness, so Moro Cov IV had been left alone ever since it was dutifully mapped thousands of years ago and then promptly forgotten, existing only as a name with its associated coordinates on starmaps. 

But it was here that a malfunctioning hyperdrive navicomputer dumped a Rebel freighter as it frantically tried to evade the close – and gaining – pursuit of an Imperial _Carrack_ -class light cruiser. 

***

Commander Katar Soliss stood at the helm of his small warship, feral gleam in his eye as he watched them close in on their prey. They had locked on to the trajectory of the Rebel's ship before it had attempted to flee into hyperspace, and they had followed them... _here_.  Wherever “here” was. He didn’t personally know the location or the details, but Soliss's tech team had reported that the Rebel's navicomputer must be failing, as it had taken them to a veritable dead end. His techs had told Soliss there was nothing out here to run to, nowhere to hide, and the error of the Rebel’s navigation would cost them their lives. Soliss didn't smile at the thought, but it gave him satisfaction. This battle would be short. 

***

The hyperdrive on the Rebel freighter was shot, the Imperial cruiser had taken out all but one of their cannons, and they were losing their last rear deflector shield. Their navicomputer had been failing before they had even made the jump to lightspeed – the Rebels had never intended on this trajectory, but they had been spat out of hyperspace when the shadow of the Moro star registered on the last shreds of what remained of their navigational systems. And now they had no options left. 

The Velabri Pathfinder wedged in the confines of the aft circuitry bay scowled as he felt another jolt of the freighter, as a laser from the Imperial warship found its mark. Not for the first time, Rhagio Sraghk wondered aloud at his life choices. “This is the last time I'm taking pay for a noble cause,” he muttered as he tried for the sixth time to kick some life into the auxiliary computer systems, “No matter how much I might believe in it.” 

A half-strangled hum came from the back of the terminal, and with a relieved grunt he squeezed out of the circuitry bay. Back in the main access way he grabbed a hold of the nearest person rushing to put out a fire. “We've got power to the escape pods! Tell Captain Vreks and get your people out of here!”

“No! We can still fight! We can't –”

Rhagio didn't bother to hear more. He shoved his way past the flustered soldier and ran the short distance to the freighter's cockpit, forcing the sparking door open even as the floor lurched underneath his feet as another volley of enemy fire lanced over the ship. “Vreks! Get to the escape pods, this piece of slag isn't going to last another five minutes!”

The captain turned to stare with blank resignation at Rhagio, one hand weakly pointing out the viewport. “It's too late.”

Rhagio's line of sight followed the man's pointing finger to the enemy cruiser rapidly approaching. 

Far too rapidly. Rhagio's mouth fell open. “You son of a kath hound. You're ramming them.”

***

“Their shields are down, sir. Engines failing. A few more moments and we shall have them completely.”

Soliss nodded. “Excellent. Open a comm channel, we'll give them the option of surrender. Although I would be surprised if –” He cut himself off and stared at the main viewport. The Rebel transport had reoriented itself head-on, and had pulled all their remaining power to their rear thrusters. 

Soliss's eyes widened. “Full reverse, _now!_ Put everything we've got into forward shields and pour all turbolaser fire on that vessel, they're ramming us!” 

Too late for it to have mattered. The creak and grind of metal crushing metal tore through the ship at breakneck speed, and men and women scattered. Soliss fled with them and flicked his comm open as he ran, issuing an “ _abandon ship!_ ” as he hurtled himself through the hall toward the escape pods lining the starboard side of the ship. He barely managed to fly into one of the still-open hatches as smoke and fire came billowing towards him. A stormtrooper and a tech officer followed hard on his heels, and he smacked the release behind them as the hatch sealed shut. 

The pod shot away into space and plummeted down to the planet below. All three Imperials peered through the pod's tiny viewport, eyes wide as they took in the two mortally wounded ships. They watched as explosions shook loose the fore and aft sections of the Rebel frighter, taking the bridge of their own warship with it in a blinding fireball of released energy. 

But they had no way of preparing for the solar wind. Just as they skimmed the atmosphere, phenomenal gusts whipped around their tiny survival craft and swept it along a violent course, threatening to break apart the pod through the sheer energy streaming from the faraway red sun. 

Soliss held his breath as the pod's hull burned in the atmosphere. They were falling too fast, coming in too hot. The tech who had escaped with him was struggling with the controls, sweating as she fought to keep the pod at an angle that would keep their most armored side in contact with the atmosphere. Outside the viewport, they could see the silhouette of a hard metal dot caught in the same solar wind as they were, blowing their two trajectories onto a parallel course. Soliss could only hope that the other pod was one of theirs, and that they were having better luck. 

The tech cursed under her breath as she fought for control. Soliss's first instinct was to order her away so he could do it himself, to keep the responsibility of their lives in his hands, but he knew her expertise eclipsed his own when it came to piloting. He settled for gripping the hand of the stormtrooper sitting in tense silence beside him. He squeezed gently, trying to reassure even though he felt nothing but waning hope. 

The pod spiraled out of control. They plummeted through the atmosphere of the dim planet trailing a plume of smoke and fire. Soliss's last thought before he blacked out was that if he died here, he could at least be satisfied he took the Rebel freighter with him. 

***

It must have been just before dawn when he came to. Rhagio groaned and twisted in the harness strapping him to the wall of the escape pod, fumbling until he found the release latch. Pulling the latch, he tumbled unceremoniously to the floor and let out a squawk of pain as he landed on crumpled metal. “Oh man, that's going to leave a mark...” 

It was dark in most of the pod, but the door and half the port side had been sheared off at some point either during his fall or his landing, letting in the dim predawn haze. Rhagio stumbled towards the open air, coughing from the smoke that partially filled his lungs. He had been the only one in this pod – most of his comrades had refused to leave the freighter, and only four of the sixteen pods had even jettisoned during the death throes of both ships. He saw two of them burn away to nothing in the solar winds skimming the atmosphere as they had fallen, and didn't have high hopes for the third. He hadn't gotten a good look at the Imperial warship as it broke apart, but he didn't remember seeing any pods coming from their direction, either. As far as he knew, he was the only survivor. 

He patted himself down, testing for injuries. Only bumps and scrapes and a few nasty bruises - otherwise he was in one piece. He stretched and looked around, taking in his new surroundings. Low domed hills covered in short, purplish-green vegetation stretched on to the slowly-brightening horizon, broken here and there by scattered clumps of drooping bushes. A heavily clouded sky hung low overhead, whipped by winds and threatening rain – although Rhagio's senses and experience told him the rain would be long in coming. From the speed of the slow sunrise, he guessed this world had days that lasted somewhere between twenty-five and thirty standard hours, and he probably had until nightfall before the rain would start. Plenty of time to find somewhere sheltered. He shivered a little in the brisk breeze, and ducked back into the pod to fetch the backpack he hauled everywhere with him. He pulled his jacket on and shouldered his small load as he began turning in a slow circle, scanning the whole horizon line. He squinted and dug out his binocs from his pack, zeroing in on a thin black line curling up from the southeast. “Is that smoke?”

***

Soliss shook sweat from his brow as he laid the second body next to the first, wincing as the strain left his already-bloody shoulder feeling like someone was trying to rip his arm out of its socket. Grisly duty done, he pulled the flare he had retrieved from the stormtrooper's belt and lit it, tossing it gently to land in the pile of brush and debris he had gathered. It took to flame quickly, and in moments both bodies were being consumed by the fire. 

Soliss sat heavily on the ground a short distance away, gingerly running a hand over his right leg. The crash had not been kind, but it had been far more merciful to him than it had his comrades. He had pulled everything useful from their bodies before laying them to rest, and there was a full complement of survival gear still in what remained of the pod. It was just a matter of getting to it that was the problem. 

He suspected his knee was dislocated, and he couldn't tell how bad the injuries to the back of his shoulder were, but from the blood seeping through his uniform it had to be pretty bad. A nasty gash running across his right arm had actually happened after the crash – when he had tried to extricate himself from the wreckage he had fallen hard on a piece of twisted metal. There were plenty of medical supplies among the survival equipment back in the pod, but he couldn't force his way back in there without the use of his leg. 

A problem he intended to tackle, but not before he had some rest. He propped himself against a moss-covered rock and leaned back, his eyes following the smoke upwards as it dissipated into the thick clouds roiling overhead. He hoped it wouldn't rain, but with his luck he was practically counting on it. 

A flicker of movement on the nearest hill brought him back to full alert. Someone, or something, was out here with him. He couldn't be sure, but he thought the shadow he had seen could have been humanoid in shape. He didn't think there were any settlers on Moro Cov IV – there was nothing to settle. Whoever was out here was probably either another survivor, or some sort of renegade. As quietly as he could, Soliss rolled himself over to the other side of the rock, crouching in a small hollow with his blaster drawn. 

***

As he loped in the direction of the thin wisp of smoke, Rhagio tried to temper his rising hope. The same solar wind that had brought the pods' trajectories so close together as to land within 20 kilometers of each other was also the same violent wind that had torn open his own pod and scrambled his controls. He knew that even if he hadn't blacked out on the way down he probably wouldn't have been able to land any more effectively, no matter how confident he was in his piloting skills. He really shouldn't hope that anyone survived in this other pod, but the wish that could be so still remained. 

As he climbed the last hill in the growing orange light of dawn, all his hopes fell. The pod wasn't one of theirs – an angry black circle incised with jagged geometry could still be partially seen on the scorched metal.  _Great. Imperials._ He quickly retreated a short distance back the way he came and crouched behind a damp, drooping shrub, drawing his blaster from its holster on his hip. Fortunately for Rhagio, his specialty was reconnaissance. With all the stealth of a Corellian sand panther, he edged his way around to a low spot on the ground, scattered with a few large rocks. Using the boulders as a new vantage point, he peered back at the smoldering pile of twisted metal. No, wait – it wasn't the  _pod_ that was burning. There was a patch of cleared ground a handful of meters away from the pod, and in the center of it was a pile of branches, debris, and the charred remains of what appeared to be two human bodies, the entire thing still aflame. He was looking at a funeral pyre. 

Now he knew at least _one_ Imperial had survived this crash. They had to be close by, probably still watching over their comrades' bodies as they burned. His eyes scanned the rocks and brush around the crash site, searching for any sign of movement. The rustle of the vegetation in the strong breeze kept him from hearing any sounds that could have betrayed a footstep or an exhalation of breath, and the swaying of the plants in the air made pinpointing any unusual movement difficult. But Rhagio's luck was with him this time – there in the rocks, not more than ten meters away, was the dim glint of the morning light off a piece of metal. It vanished as soon as he brought his scope to bear on it, but Rhagio knew where his target was hiding now. He tilted his head and slid a fraction closer to the mossy boulder beside him, and the slight change in angle was enough to partially reveal a man crouched behind a similar rock, standard Imperial issue E-11 blaster rifle practically grafted into his hands. The Imperial was still scanning the rocks around him, his eyes warily flicking from branch to boulder. _He hasn't seen me. Good._

With painstaking slowness, Rhagio inched his blaster slightly to the left and lined up his scope with the Imperial's forehead. Rhagio was a dead shot – it would happen so fast the Imperial wouldn't even feel it. 

But his luck suddenly left him. Sharp movement from the hill Rhagio had just left caught his eye at the last moment, and he swung his blaster around just in time to catch a shadow full of claws and slippery skin bearing down on him, giant maw open revealing double sets of wicked teeth. Rhagio fired three rapid shots into the gaping mouth as he roll-twisted to the side, and the beast heaved its slimy bulk a handful of paces before it collapsed and breathed its last. Just as quickly Rhagio whipped back around to the place he'd seen his Imperial crouching, but the man wasn't there. Cursing silently to himself, he scoured the rocks and brush with his eyes, hoping to catch the other man before he found a new hiding place. 

His hackles on the back of his neck rose. Someone had rapidly closed behind him while he had been dealing with the creature, and now they were less than two meters away, pressed close to the rock. Slowly he turned, feeling the last of his luck drain away completely. A blaster leveled at his face, with the hard eyes of an Imperial behind it. 


	2. Day One: Equipment Retrieval and Medical Assistance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhagio and Soliss meet, and it's not entirely pleasant. Not entirely bad though, either.

Soliss had thrown all his energy into sprinting on a dislocated knee, leaving him dripping in sweat and seeing stars. He was sure that the exertion of dashing up here to intercept the Rebel had already left his leg swollen and possibly irreparable, and he had to lean heavily on the boulder beside him just to keep upright. He probably looked just as bad as he felt, but he would be damned if he was going to give this Rebel the upper hand, regardless of injury. He hadn't caught his breath yet, so he just stared down the frozen Rebel until he could trust himself to speak without gasping for air. The other man was thin, fast, and didn't appear to be seriously injured. Although now that he had a good look at him, Soliss almost wrinkled his nose. He wasn't even a _man_ , he was some sort of near-human, or some strange cross-breed. He wasn't familiar with his race, but the muted purple-grey of his skin and the eerie white eyes staring at him from over the cloth covering his face gave away his obvious alien heritage. 

Soliss finally caught his breath, and stood as upright as he could without leaving the support of the boulder. “Drop it. Then put your hands on the rock, _slowly_.”

 ***

Rhagio complied promptly and dropped his blaster before he turned to press his empty hands against the rock, going as slow as he could with all the adrenaline still rushing through his veins. He kept his eyes on the Imperial, noting how heavily the other man leaned on the rock to support his weight. 

“Hey, easy now. You're hurt pretty bad.” He could see dark stains seeping through his uniform on his right shoulder, merging with more bloody smears down his arm. He was favoring his right leg, and judging by the tightness of the fabric it must be swollen, either broken or dislocated. If the Imperial's attention wavered for a moment, he could possibly make a lunge for him. Even though the other man probably had fifty kilos on him, Rhagio guessed it wouldn't be impossible to overpower him with all the injuries he had. He tensed, readying himself. 

***

The alien Rebel's lanky form grew taut, all his muscles coiling like a spring. Soliss knew that look – he was getting ready to jump him. “Don't even think about it, hotshot.” He leaned forward to jam the muzzle of his blaster under the Rebel's chin. “I have a twitchy trigger finger and no intention of putting up with any of your shit.” He used his free hand to grab the binders from the fallen stormtrooper's belt, which he had strapped around his waist earlier. He slapped one cuff over the Rebel's nearest wrist and yanked him around to bring both of his hands together behind his back. “Don't try anything stupid. If you try to take me down I'll take you with me. Now _move_.”

***

Rhagio's luck must have just sunk into negative numbers. He sighed and obeyed his new captor's orders, making his way back to the downed pod. He cast a few glances behind him as they inched their way slowly through the rocks, and made a mental note that the Imperial had to use the support of the larger stones to keep weight off of his leg. The fierce look of determination on his face had Rhagio worried though, despite the injuries. _He wasn't kidding when he said he'd take us both down, was he? He looks ready to take on the entire Alliance by himself, leg be damned._

They rounded the last of the boulders and came to a stop near the still-burning pyre, and Rhagio turned to regard his captor warily. But this Imperial _hadn't_ killed him, even when handed the opportunity. Given that Rhagio had been happily preparing to send the man to an early grave himself just moments before, the thought surprised him. 

***

Soliss eased himself gingerly to the ground, still keeping his eyes and his blaster trained on the Rebel. He hadn't expected to find anyone else alive on this dim pit of a world, but perhaps he could use the extra pair of hands. And eyes, come to think of it. He hadn't seen the creature that had attacked the Rebel until he saw the blaster fire. If there were stealthy predators lurking about, it would pay to be extra vigilant. He was hoping the blaze of the fire would keep any more creatures away from the area close around the pod. But at the moment, he had more immediate problems to think about. 

“Come here. Sit down. Your back facing me.” He waved his free hand at the ground just in front of him.

***

Rhagio obeyed, sitting cross-legged facing away from the Imperial. His first instinct was to try and talk his way out of this, but this man was no complacent official he could bribe or an idle guard he could distract. He settled for peering back over his shoulder. “What now?”

***

“You'll shut up and do as you're told,” Soliss grunted. Now that he didn't have to worry about his leg giving out, he could focus on completely disarming his new captive. He grabbed the buckles on the Rebel's backpack and yanked it off of him, tossing it to the side. He ran his hands over the other man's jumpsuit, pulling a few vibroknives from concealed pockets and a small holdout blaster from a hidden holster strapped to one arm. He shoved and twisted the Rebel around until he was satisfied he had found everything on his person, then strapped the holdout blaster to his own arm after checking the charge on the power cell. 

With the Rebel now facing him, he scrutinized his features. An unruly silver mohawk topped his head, and a line of geometric tattoos ran down the left side of his head and neck, disappearing under the neckline of his clothes. Those eerie white eyes stared steadily back at him - strange enough to almost be intimidating, particularly with that jawbone-pattern cloth covering half the Rebel's face. 

Soliss reached a hand forward and tucked a finger over the edge of the bandanna, hesitating just for a moment before he yanked it down. He was almost grateful to see that the lower half of the Rebel's face was utterly human-like. 

“So what are you? Any more of you out there?”

***

“Velabri. We're not common, thanks to your Empire.” Rhagio licked his lips and shifted under the Imperial's gaze, returning his stare with equal intensity. It probably wouldn't do any good to lie about numbers. For all he knew, the other man would consider others a greater threat and just shoot him on the spot to give him one less thing to worry about. “And no. I was the only one in my pod. Judging from your fire, looks like you're the only other survivor here, too.” 

He let his eyes wander past the Imperial to the hills behind them, noting that the distant sun had fully risen. It wasn't a bright sun, but the world was bathed in enough reddish light to see a good distance away. If there were any other predators lurking about out there, at least they'd be able to see them coming. Not that he could do anything about it, if he was bound. 

“So if another one of those slimy tooth factories comes prancing out of the woods, what do you plan on doing about it?” He inclined his head towards his captor's injured shoulder. “I doubt you're in good enough shape to tackle one of those if it got the jump on you.” 

***

Soliss scowled and hefted his blaster in the Rebel's face. “Worry more about your immediate situation, Velabri. I have a job for you to do, and if you don't cooperate there is little point in me keeping you alive.”

***

“Point taken.” Rhagio let out a sigh and pulled his gaze to the clouds rushing by overhead. “What 'job' is this? We probably have at least ten, maybe fifteen hours before it starts to rain. We'll need to find somewhere a little more sheltered than this before nightfall, and I suggest that being one of your top priorities.”

***

“I 'suggest' you keep your opinions to yourself, Rebel.” Soliss leaned over to grab the backpack he had relieved from his captive and rifled through it with one hand, still keeping his blaster trained on the other man. “You're going to climb into the pod and bring me the survival equipment and medical supplies stored in the aft compartments.” 

His hand found a coil of synthe-rope and he yanked it out, wincing when he accidentally brushed his injured arm on the other items in the pack. “Roll to the side and give me your ankles, I'm hobbling you while you're in there. You'll still need your hands though, so I'm going to have to take those binders off. But don't get any bright ideas.” 

He began to unwind the cord, carefully measuring out the length he would need. “The compartments are at a steep angle and there are loose shards of metal in there, so be careful. If I get suspicious or think you've gotten yourself killed I'm just going to drag you out with the cord. I'm not coming in after you if you manage to impale yourself.”

***

“You're such a kind soul.” Rhagio sneered, but it was without energy. He complied and drew his legs out from underneath him, watching as the Imperial wound the tough cord around his ankles, leaving a long line Rhagio assumed he intended on using as a leash. He would have a little over half a meter of stride left – just enough to walk and clamber around in the pod, but not enough to run. This guy wasn't taking any chances he didn't have to, and for that Rhagio could give him some credit. The last thing he needed would have been a stupid Imperial captor – anyone caught in a situation like theirs who didn't have a decent head on their shoulders would have been a danger to both themselves and everyone else around him. _Small favors, I guess._ He eyed the injured shoulder, noting the bloodstain seeping through the fabric of his uniform was still expanding, which meant his wound wasn't clotting. He didn't know how deep the injury really was, but if it was as deep as he imagined, the Imperial could bleed out within a few hours if he didn't get treatment. 

***

Soliss finished knotting the last loop of synthe-rope, pointedly ignoring the constant stare this...  _Velabri_ was giving him. He liked nothing about their current situation, and liked even less the fact that he had to use a Rebel to get the supplies he so badly needed. But necessity demanded it, so he would have to deal. 

He grabbed the Rebel's arm roughly and pulled him back towards him so he could see the lock on the binders. “I'm releasing these, and when I do you're going to put your hands on your head and stand up. You got that?” He grasped one of the Rebel's wrists in a tight hold and keyed in the release code, waiting until he heard a response before he pressed the last key. 

***

Rhagio flinched at the tight grip on his wrist, but nodded. “Yes, sir.” 

As soon as he felt the relief of pressure from the binders he raised his freed hands to his head and climbed to his feet, careful to keep his movement slow and deliberate. He stared down at the Imperial still seated on the ground with the long end of the synthe-rope in one hand and his E-11 in the other, trained steadily on him. 

“Whenever you tell me.” 

***

Soliss raised an eyebrow at the “sir”, but said nothing about it. He jerked his blaster in the direction of the pod. “Go on then. Move slow.” He made no indication he intended to follow, knowing that if he got up he would run the risk of sudden spikes of pain distracting him from monitoring his captive. “You'll probably need to make two trips. There's a lot of gear. Go.” 

***

The escape pod certainly was filled with jagged ends of sharp metal, and the angle of the crash made it an almost vertical climb to get to the aft compartments. Once he was inside and out of the immediate view of the other man, Rhagio made a quick survey of the knotwork the Imperial had done on the synthe-rope and wondered if he could manage to sever the tough cord on some of the sharper pieces of debris. 

He weighed his options as he struggled up through the debris, but was coming up short on ideas. He knew the Rebel freighter's communications had been jammed once they had left hyperspace, so they hadn't been able to send any distress signals. No one knew he was out here and no traffic came through this system, so he couldn't expect a rescue. He didn't know if the Empire was sending their own rescue party, but from the way this Imperial was acting it didn't seem like he was expecting anyone to come for _him_ either. They were both probably running on empty when it came to luck. Either way, he was going to need these supplies too. Might as well try to play nice until he actually had a hand he could win with. 

He scraped past a particularly nasty-looking fragment of the pod and propped himself on a precariously balanced piece of metal, leaning up to snag the latch on the first of the compartments. A heavy case tumbled out, nearly knocking him sideways as it hit his makeshift perch and landed with a dull _thud_ in the debris below. 

“That's _one_.” He slid back down and grabbed the case by its handle, dragging it behind him as he picked his way back outside, following the line of cord. Without a word he hauled it over near his captor and left it just out of his reach a couple meters away, promptly turning and heading back for the pod to find the other load. 

He kept racking his brain for ideas. If no one knew where he was, he'd have to find some way to send a signal. He assumed that part of the survival gear he was moving contained a distress beacon, but it was probably set to the Empire's signals, in which case it would do him no good. He'd have to find some way to persuade the Imperial that they needed to return to his own downed pod, perhaps under the pretense of more gear. He knew better than that though – small Alliance freighters were ill-equipped and undermanned, and held little in the way of supplies for their escape pods. He might be able to try the built-in comm within the pod itself, if it hadn't been too badly damaged in the crash. 

He found the second compartment and ripped it open, dragging out two heavy packs and shouldering one on each arm. He staggered under their weight, but the air inside the pod seemed to be growing thicker with smoke, and he didn't want to make a third trip back inside the stagnant wreck. It smelled of death. 

***

Soliss had nearly barked a sharp reprimand at the Rebel when he dropped the case just out of his reach, but realized he didn't have the energy to bother. For now it didn't matter, he'd just make him cooperate better once he'd gotten the rest of the gear. His head was spinning, his shoulder felt like it was on fire, and even though he was off his leg it still throbbed and burned. The case that lay a couple meters away had the medical supplies he so badly needed, but he didn't want to risk distracting himself from ensuring his Rebel didn't escape. 

He nearly sighed in relief when he saw the other man extricate himself from the remains of the pod, two massive packs hanging from each shoulder. Soliss coiled in the synthe-rope as he approached and trained his blaster on him, watching as the Rebel dropped the packs next to the previous load.

“Open up the case and find me the irrigation bulbs and flexclamps first... I'm assuming you know how to use a medkit.”

***

“No, not at all. I only know reconnaissance and sharpshooting.” Rhagio rolled his eyes. “Of _course_ I know how to use a medkit. Maybe you didn't notice but the Alliance tends to get blown apart and shot up a lot. I think I'd know a thing or two about putting someone back together.”

But he dutifully dragged the case over to the injured man's side and popped it open, finding the asked-for items but also pulling out a hypospray, bacta patches, and a few stimshots for good measure. He set them out next to the Imperial on one of the drop cloths included in the kit and cracked his knuckles. “All right, let's get this over with.” He reached for the Imperial's blood-soaked shirt. 

***

Soliss jerked back from the other man and slapped his hands away with the side of his blaster. “Don't  _touch_ me, Velabri. Back off, sit down, and keep your hands where I can see them. You make one suspicious move and I'll ensure you'll need medical attention far more desperately than I do.” 

He waited a long moment, eyeing the Rebel until he was certain he was going to stay where he was. He carefully set his blaster beside his hip, ready to grab in an instant if he needed it. Despite the exhaustion that was finally overtaking him, his hands didn't shake as he carefully unbuttoned the top of his uniform. He managed to get half of it off, but as he tried to pull it from his right side, sharp pain suddenly halted his efforts. In the hours that his injuries had had to soak, blood had dried around the edges and the fabric stuck to the wound, tearing the fragile skin and muscle around the edges as he tried to peel the uniform away. 

He flinched and gritted his teeth, stopping for a moment to breathe as a fresh spike of pain coursed over his shoulder and down his arm. When it finally faded, he grabbed one of the irrigation bulbs and tried to reach behind him to squeeze the liquid onto the fabric over the wound, in an attempt to soften up the crust of blood that was pulling at his skin. 

_“Ah –”_ He dropped the bulb and leaned forward, cringing through the pain. Just stretching the muscle by trying to reach over his shoulder had torn the fragile exposed tissues there, and fresh blood oozed from the wound. 

***

Rhagio watched as his captor struggled with the pain, weighing his options and wondering if this would be a good opportunity to make a grab for that blaster. But the short cry that came from the Imperial jarred the cold practicality from his thoughts and promptly made his decision for him. 

He cursed under his breath. “Damn it, I'm not supposed to actually feel _sorry_ for you.” He again tried to reach for the other man. “Hey, easy there. Let me help you.” 

***

Soliss seized his blaster on reflex and jammed it into the chest of the Rebel, snarling up at him from where he sat doubled-over. He started to say something, but it just came out as a choked grunt. Breathing heavily, he slowly lowered the blaster, but didn't set it aside completely. Wary brown eyes bored into the Rebel's strange white ones, trying to gauge whether the other man would lunge for the weapon or if he truly intended on helping him. 

But his adrenaline alone couldn't keep him together forever. Suddenly tired of the constant pain, he resigned himself to whatever might happen. He shrugged his one good shoulder and waved the blaster at the medical supplies, managing to choke out a reply. “...Get to it.” 

***

_ What am I doing?  _ Rhagio was inwardly chiding himself as he gathered up several of the irrigation bulbs and began releasing the liquid over the Imperial's shoulder, focusing on the areas with the darkest bloodstains. He let the fluid soak into the fabric and waited a long moment to let the crusted blood loosen up before slowly peeling back the rest of the shirt, taking care not to pull on the other man's torn skin. 

He flinched in sympathy when he saw the other man's wounds. Four jagged gashes ran from the nape of his neck, reached across the back of his shoulder, and ended nearly halfway down his side. Two of them sliced deep enough into his muscle Rhagio imagined that if he parted the flesh he could see bone. He must have been thrown into a nasty piece of jagged metal when his escape pod crashed. How the Imperial hadn't passed out from the pain alone was simply beyond grasping. 

Fortunately for them, the medkit was well-stocked with bacta patches and synthflesh. The miracles of advanced field medicine would have the Imperial stable within hours, and well on his way to fully healed in less than a week. Rhagio loaded up a hypospray with antibiotics and a sedative just below the Imperial's ear, and set to work. “So can I get your name, or am I going to just call you Damn Imperial while we're stuck here on this rock?”

***

Soliss grunted when the Rebel managed to get the rest of his shirt off, and as he peered out of the corner of his eye he could see the look of concern on the other man's face. His wounds must be a lot worse than he thought... the pinch of the hypospray behind his jaw made him jump and he could feel the chemicals spread through his veins, slowly relaxing him. 

He raised an eyebrow at the Rebel's question. “Commander Katar Soliss. I expect you to address me as –” He flinched as the Rebel adhered a bacta patch to one of the deepest wounds. “– To address me as 'Commander' or 'sir'. You got that?”

***

Rhagio murmured a quiet 'sorry' when he felt Soliss wince at the pressure of the bacta patches. He rolled his eyes at the new “orders” he'd been given, but there really wasn't any point in being difficult with the other man. At least not at the moment. “Yes, sir. Now lean forward, I need a better angle to put this last flexclamp in. Then it's just one more patch before I can bandage you up.” 

***

Soliss complied and leaned forward, trying to keep his breathing even as the sharp discomfort of the flexclamp dug into his flesh and stymied the bleeding. The final bacta patch gave him merciful relief as the warm numbness began to take effect, each patch seeping their miracle-working fluid deep into his wounds, slowly repairing damaged tissue and knitting torn muscle back together. He suspected that the hypospray he'd been given earlier had also had some sort of sedative in it – while he was in no danger of falling asleep, his movements felt sluggish and his muscles were relaxing more than he really wanted them to. His grip on his blaster tightened.

He watched as the Rebel pulled rolls of gauze and bandages from the medkit and slowly unwound them. “Do you have a name, Velabri?”

***

“Rhagio Sraghk. Quit calling me 'Velabri'. _Sir._ ” He tore long strips of bandaging into manageable pieces and began wrapping them around Soliss's injuries, gently lifting his arm to get around his thick torso. “I'm gonna need to work on your leg next, and you should probably be leaning back against something for that. We're gonna have to splint it.” 

***

Soliss allowed himself to be moved around, but didn't let the hand on his blaster budge. “Just remember I still have you in my sights and can shoot you faster than you can get up and run.” The bandages were snug but not constricting, and the gentle pressure against his wounds was more a relief than an inconvenience. The sharp pain was beginning to drain away from his shoulder, leaving just a dull ache that he could manage to ignore. 

“ _Sraghk_ , huh. Leave it to aliens to always have barely-pronounceable names.” 

***

“Or in your case, _completely_ unpronounceable. That was terrible. Just do us both a favor and stick with Rhagio.” He tucked down the last of the bandages and sat back to scrutinize his handiwork for a moment, before he turned back to the medkit to dig out some more supplies. “I don't know if we need any bone stabilizer because I'm not sure if that's broken or not, but even if it's just dislocated this is going to be pretty kriffing painful.” 

He dragged the medkit over until it was immediately behind Soliss, gently pushing a hand against the other man's chest to get him to lean back against it. “You want something to bite down on? I've got a couple leather straps in my pack if you'll let me get one of them.”

***

Soliss started to shake his head, thought better of it and nodded instead. This was not going to be pleasant. “Just tell me everything you're going to do before you do it. I want no surprises.” 

***

“All right. Roll up your pant leg while I grab them.” Rhagio leaned far to the right and yanked the backpack over to his side, digging through the already-ransacked contents for one of the straps he normally used to stash extra knives on his person. He held it up for Soliss to bite down on, then tucked a hand under the dislocated knee. “I'm going to try to push everything back into place as I lower your knee. Try to relax so your muscles won't work against me. You ready?”

***

Soliss inhaled deeply and nodded, letting his breath out slowly as he tried to relax his leg muscles. He gritted his teeth against the leather as Rhagio put pressure on the side of his knee and inched his leg downward, gently pressing the patella back towards its proper place. His exhale turned into a pained snarl as the bone snapped back into place with an audible _pop_ , and his hand shot up to catch Rhagio's closest shoulder in a white-knuckled grip. He almost forgot to inhale again as both pain and relief flooded his senses, and he slumped forward to press his forehead against the hand gripping Rhagio. 

***

As soon as Rhagio heard the bone snap back into proper place he started rubbing the muscles around his knee gently but vigorously, trying to ease the discomfort and help the muscles relax and realign themselves back to their original position. With one hand he carefully removed Soliss's fingers from digging into his shoulder and tried to ignore his own relief at hearing the alleviated sigh that came from the other man. _Stop feeling sorry for him, Rhagio. He's the enemy._

“How bad is the pain?” 

***

Soliss snatched his hand back and spat out the leather strip. He grunted at the question, not entirely sure of the answer himself. Just moments before his entire leg had felt as if it was under so much pressure it could have ruptured, but now he felt nothing but a powerful ache near the top of his shin. “It could be worse.” 

He gingerly rotated his leg as Rhagio continued to massage the muscles around his knee, flinching a little when the twisting of his tendons put too much pressure on still-strained muscles. “I don't think anything's fractured. I won't need a splint.”

***

Rhagio nodded. “Splint or not, I'm still wrapping it. You'll need the support while it heals.” He leaned back to grab the roll of bandages he had used earlier and pulled more strips from the roll, wrapping them snugly around Soliss's knee. He inspected his handiwork once more before carefully rolling Soliss's pant leg back down. “That should hold just fine until tonight. We'll have to change out all of the bandages on your shoulder by then, anyway. I'd still keep your weight off of it as much as possible, otherwise your patella could slip again.” 

He cracked his neck and pulled off his jacket, feeling warm even though the air was chilly and carried the scent of the far-off gathering storm in its breeze. “Do you intend to stay here to nightfall, or find somewhere actually sheltered from that storm? It will break to rain by twilight.” He pointed at the horizon and the thick cloud cover slowly growing into dark grey thunderheads. 

***

“We'll move when I have everything I need. You still have some more heavy lifting to do for me, but it'll wait.” He sat up and twisted around to pop the latches on the medkit. “It's your turn now, hotshot. Where are you hurt?”

***

Rhagio's eyebrows shot up. “I'm not hurt. All I have is a few scratches and a bruised backside. I'm fine.”

***

It was Soliss's turn to raise an eyebrow. “Liar. There's a streak of blood a foot wide between your shoulder blades. Now that your jacket's off I can see it plain as day.” He twirled a finger in the air. “Now sit down, turn around. If you're hauling equipment I need you in decent condition.” 

***

Blood? Did he actually have open wounds? Rhagio shifted a little, testing the pull of his muscles. There was certainly a nasty twinge there on his back, but he didn't feel too badly. Of course his adrenaline had been running at an all-time high and it hadn't quite subsided just yet. He'd always had a high tolerance for pain. 

“...Oh.” He frowned. “Must have been when I fell out of the pod. Smashed my back against the bulkhead.” He obediently turned around and let Soliss pull his shirt over his shoulders to inspect the wound. 

***

“You're a damn right lucky bastard,” Soliss snorted. “You fall from the sky in a half-ruptured escape pod, and _this_ is the worst you have?” He dabbed disinfectant over Rhagio's injury and stretched a bacta patch over it, noting with idle curiosity that the geometric shapes inked into the left side of the Rebel's face and neck didn't just stop at his shoulder. They continued down his ribcage and past his hip, disappearing underneath his waistband. “What's with the tattoos, anyway? Some sort of primitive Velabri tribal thing?” 

***

Rhagio sneered but since he had his back to Soliss, his captor couldn't see it. “Velabri don't have 'tribes', _Commander_. And we aren't – we weren't – 'primitive', either. We were aggressive and we were warriors, and we were wiped out for it. I have tattoos because I _like_ them, they have nothing to do with my _species_. By the thousand moons of Tu'ural, you're _aggravating_.”

***

Soliss made a noncommittal grunt for a response, his focus less on the Rebel's words and more on a patch of ragged scar tissue just above Rhagio's left hip, carefully covered over by the intricate inkwork of his tattoo designs. He brushed two fingers over the torn skin, recognizing the depth and pattern of scorched flesh that had healed poorly. Burn scars. 

***

Rhagio flinched, but dared not jump away from Soliss for fear of a blaster bolt in his back. His caution didn't prevent him from snapping at the other man, though. “Don't _touch_ me,” he hissed, “Or you're going to lose fingers. I don't _care_ if you're the one with the blaster.” 

***

“I can't treat you without touching you.” But Soliss relented and removed his hand from Rhagio's side. He pulled the Rebel's shirt back down over the freshly-patched wound and pushed at Rhagio's shoulder. “Turn back around, you have a gash near your ear that's been bleeding profusely, that you _also_ haven't seemed to notice. Do Velabri just not feel pain, or are you special?”

***

Rhagio scowled but obeyed, twisting himself around to sit cross-legged in front of Soliss. “I'm just hyped up on adrenaline, I guess.” More to himself, he added, “...And probably only just now coming down from the stims I gave myself this morning, come to think of it... I don't think I've slept in 3 standard days.” 

He leaned forward at the beckoning of the other man, staring him down as he applied a kolto balm to the gash across his right cheekbone. Rhagio's eyes flicked down to the rank insignia on the Imperial's uniform, and a small realization hit him. “....You were the commanding officer in charge of the pursuit of our freighter, weren't you? Not just someone serving aboard that cruiser.” 

***

“I was, yes.” Soliss tilted Rhagio's chin up and to the side, seeking the last edge of the cut across his face. Rhagio's stare still unnerved him, but he tried to ignore it as best he could while he repaired the other man's face. Satisfied that he'd gotten everything visible, he released Rhagio's chin and capped the balm container, tossing it back into the medkit. “I suppose you're going to have _scathing words_ about that as well.” 

***

“I _would_ , but I'd rather not receive a laser bolt to my _face_ for the effort. You're like talking to a durasteel wall, anyway–”

A sudden rumbling _boom_ blasted through the air, making both men jump and turn heads to the opposite horizon. Smoke and debris were thrown into the air from the direction of the escape pod Rhagio had crashed down in, followed by a succession of brief, if brilliant, flashes of fire. More smoke billowed from the unseen crash site beyond the ridge of hills, leaving the two men to stare in surprised silence. 

After several minutes of watching the smoke, Rhagio let out a sigh. “So much for going back for anything in _that_ pod.” 


	3. Day One: Making Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhagio and Soliss manage to salvage everything they can from the wreckage, and then set out to find a place to take shelter from the gathering storm.

Soliss watched the smoke for a moment longer before shaking his head. “Doesn't matter, I had no intention of it anyway. I have everything I need to salvage right here.” He gestured back to his own escape pod with his blaster. “What you're going to do now is get the side-thrusters and landing repulsors off of that thing. I'm going to need as much of the wiring intact as possible, so be careful how you pry the paneling off. There's enough tools for what you need in one of the packs you brought out. Get to it.”

***

Rhagio rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. “yes, _sir_.”

The outer paneling ended up being relatively easy to remove once Rhagio managed to find the right tools for the job. The largest of the packs had contained what seemed to be full complement of mechanical tools, but working with mechanics was definitely not Rhagio's forte. He quickly discovered that he wasn't strong enough to haul the heavy components anywhere near where Soliss wanted them once he removed them. But fortunately his captor didn't seem terribly put out by it, so Rhagio doggedly continued dismantling whatever bits and pieces of the pod Soliss directed him to take.

Hours slipped by with little talk between the two. Soliss had limped his way closer to the heaviest of the mechanical pieces and sat down beside it, tinkering with wires and soldering metal together with whatever tools in the pack had functioning power cells. Rhagio found himself envious of how well-stocked the Empire kept their pods, although he'd been keeping an eye out for anything resembling an emergency transmitter and had as yet seen nothing.

Rhagio managed to pry the last of the landing repulsors off the pod, letting it tumble to the ground and roll a meter or two before it came to a halt halfway to where Soliss was tinkering. He wiped sweat off his forehead with the bandanna still tied around his neck and blew stray strands of hair away from his face. “So do you need anything else off of this junk heap, or am I done?”

***

Soliss glanced up from his work to eyeball the repulsor Rhagio had just finished prying off the pod. “I think that will do. Bring me that bundle of wires you cut out earlier, and a few of the flat metal strips from the aft stabilizer casing. Once I get that last repulsor on, I believe I'll be almost finished.”

***

“Sure, sure.” Rhagio obeyed, dumping an armful of parts next to Soliss before stopping to look around. He scanned the ground for wherever his backpack had gone off to, and spotted it about ten meters away, still beside the medkit. He started towards it, but his feet were suddenly yanked out from under him as the cord still hobbling his ankles was pulled tight. He flailed to keep himself from being dragged backwards, but only ended up scraping his arms on the rocky ground.

***

“Where do you think you're going?”

Soliss had stood to lean on one of the re-purposed side-thrusters he had been tinkering with, his good arm making loops of synthe-rope as he reeled Rhagio back towards him. “I didn't say you could leave. You may be finished with hauling equipment, but we are far from done here.”

***

Rhagio brushed the dirt off his clothes and glowered up at his captor. “Look, I don't know what the hell you think you're building and I have no idea how long _you_ can keep going full speed ahead, but I'm gonna need another stim-shot pretty damn soon unless you want me to have a seizure and pass out, and all of the stims are either in _that_ medkit or _my_ backpack.” He jabbed a finger in the direction he had been going before he'd been toppled off his feet. “ _Both_ of which are _over there_.”

***

Soliss blinked. How long had Rhagio said he'd been awake, three days? If he'd been keeping himself going by taking stims successively for that long, small wonder he was at risk of a seizure if he stopped suddenly without natural sleep. “If that is the case then you don't need stims, you need to lie down and you need to rest. I think I can have this finished in two more hours, I'll wake you then. I need you _useful_ , not turning into extra baggage. Now come here.”

***

Rhagio curled his lip back in a snarl, but obediently picked himself off the ground to stand in front of Soliss. “Your concern is _touching_ , but if you think I'm going to trust myself to sleep out in the open and with _you_ as company? No thanks. I'll sleep when I'm dead.”

***

Soliss sighed. “Don't tempt me to hasten that outcome.” He pulled open one of the pouches on the stormtrooper belt around his waist and drew out a slender instrument the length of his palm. He hooked a finger over the edge of the bandanna around Rhagio's neck and pulled it to the side, pressing the metal against the skin just behind his jaw.

***

Rhagio flinched when Soliss went for his throat, but the familiar _pop-hiss_ of a pneumatic dispenser and the immediate rush of energy made him blink in surprise. “...I thought you said I didn't need stims.” Fixing his captor with a glare, he shoved Soliss’s hand away from his neck and pulled his bandanna back over his face where it belonged.

***

“You don't, you need _sleep_. But you don't seem inclined to even bother, so if this shuts you up for the moment it's worth it.” He scrutinized Rhagio's face, hating that white-eyed stare he kept giving him but studying it just long enough to see the tell-tale wobble of his barely-discernible pupils. “You're going to crash later, you know, and _hard_. Stims are powerful drugs. Don't tell me I got stuck with an _addict_.”

***

Rhagio narrowed his eyes. “Addicts can barely _function_ \- they can't talk, can't even think without having stims. They twitch and tic and shake, and spend their lives rotting away in the Coruscant underworld or the alleys of Nar Shaddaa. I'm _not_ an addict.”

***

“Your creepy eyes tell me otherwise.” Soliss waved his blaster at the last landing repulsor still lying a few meters away and turned back to his mechanical project, clearly dismissing Rhagio. “Now that you're properly _energized_ , roll that over here so I can get this finished and we can move on.”

***

Rhagio didn't deign him with a _yes sir_ , merely turned on his heel to fetch the equipment. Since it was too heavy for him to carry, he had to try and roll it over the rocky ground instead. It took him at least ten minutes to wrestle the thing up to where Soliss wanted it, and by the end Rhagio was sweating again. He watched as Soliss studiously ignored him and started pulling out wires and connecting them to the main bulk of his project. Now that Rhagio had a good look at it up close, he thought he might be able to guess what Soliss was trying to create, although he shook his head in disbelief. “You can't possibly make a speeder bike out of a wrecked escape pod. It'll never run.”

***

Soliss jerked his head up from his work to glare at Rhagio with narrowed eyes. Without breaking eye contact, he stood up and reached for a panel welded towards the front of the cobbled-together machine and flicked a switch.

The entire contraption coughed, shuddered, and let out a series of grating, grinding noises that would have cowed a krayt dragon – but it ran. In hesitating spurts the repulsor fields slowly raised the bike two feet into the air, where it stayed. It wobbled as it idled but it ran, rough and loud.

Still holding eye contact, Soliss crossed his arms and glowered at Rhagio.

***

“...I stand corrected.” Rhagio walked around the side of the makeshift speeder, running his long fingers lightly over the precision welds that Soliss had made to seal the components together. Using just the few basic tools provided in that pack, he'd managed to salvage and convert chunks of a wrecked pod into this? All while still recovering from very recent injuries, too. Impressive.

Like hell he was going to say so, though. “Didn't think they taught this kind of stuff at Officer School. Where'd you find the time, between 'How-To-Be-A-Prick 101' and your 'Basics of Inhumanity' class?”

***

“Nice. Very mature.” Soliss switched off the speeder and took a long step around it to grab Rhagio's arm. He yanked him down against the speeder's seat, bringing his hands together behind his back. He snapped the binders back over Rhagio's wrists and hauled him back upright before shoving him away. “Seems I've given you entirely too much freedom. That ends now. Sit down and shut up.”

***

Rhagio ground his teeth behind his bandanna. “ _Yes, sir_.” He sat himself down facing Soliss and his speeder, curling his long limbs to sit cross-legged on the ground. He watched Soliss fine-tune his new machine, occasionally turning it back on to experiment with making it run more smoothly. Time seemed to tick by with agonizing slowness, although that could be because the days here were longer than standard.

Nearly two hours more passed by while Soliss occupied himself with tinkering, and Rhagio found himself growing restless and bored. The stims Soliss allowed him weren't going to wear off for at least another seven or eight hours, and they probably had about that much time before dark. Rhagio guessed that it would start to rain just after dusk too. They'd already wasted nearly half their potential daylight hanging around the wreck, and they still hadn't made any moves to consolidate their supplies and find shelter. The survivalist in him was screaming for them to make shelter and warmth their priority – he had a rough idea how cold the nights would be here based on their early dawn, but the rising wind and the threat of rain would make even that temperature estimate drop considerably.

Rhagio felt his stomach gurgle. Great. And there was that, too. He couldn't remember the last time he ate or drank anything, although he seemed to recall having a meal aboard the Rebel freighter before they even knew they were being targeted for an Imperial attack. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

***

Soliss wiped the grit off his hands and switched the speeder back on, noting with satisfaction that it ran much more smoothly with the adjustments. He'd used the last of the landing repulsor pads to make a floating sledge attached to the back, and he leaned forward to test it with his weight. It gave only a few centimeters under the pressure and held just fine, hovering with the rest of the speeder about half a meter above the ground.

He turned back to Rhagio, rather surprised that the Rebel had managed to stay quiet this whole time. “All right hotshot, get up. I'm uncuffing you only for as long as it's going to take for you to load those packs and the medkit onto the back repulsor. Go on, I'll move the speeder.”

***

Relieved that they'd finally be doing something practical, Rhagio shrugged in acknowledgment. “Whatever you say.”

He made his way over to where the rest of their equipment was lying. He glanced back over his shoulder to see if the speeder would actually go anywhere with Soliss on it, and nearly jumped when it passed him by instead.

It wasn't simply a matter of loading things onto the speeder's floating sledge. They spent the better part of half an hour taking inventory of what they had in their supplies and redistributing them among the containers they had available. When they were _finally_ ready to set off, they had the medkit, both packs from the pod, and Rhagio's backpack all sorted, organized, and loaded. Soliss's methodical nature was straining Rhagio's patience to its breaking point, but at least now they could get somewhere less exposed.

“We should probably head northeast. From what I remember seeing out the viewport when my pod was falling, I thought I saw some forested ravines in the uplands that way.” He pointed in the rough direction he recalled seeing the features of terrain. “And anything forested would be our best bet for a more sheltered area. These open plains have nothing to act as windbreakers aside from a few boulders, which definitely won't be good enough with that rain coming.”

***

Soliss grunted in response and grabbed Rhagio by the arm, turning him around to cuff his wrists behind his back once again. “If I wanted your opinion I would have asked for it. I saw the same thing from my own descent, I'm not blind. Now get on.” Even though he issued the order, he didn't wait for Rhagio to comply. Grateful that the bacta patches on the back of his shoulder were still working their miracles, he braced himself and picked Rhagio up under his armpits, hoisting him onto the speeder. He nearly overshot his mark though, the Rebel was a lot lighter than he anticipated. “Don't make me regret taking you with me.” He climbed on behind Rhagio and started the speeder up again, revving the throttle to build a little speed as they coasted away from the wrecked escape pod.

***

Well now, this was... _uncomfortable_. While Soliss had made the seat from one of the leather-clad, cushioned benches inside the escape pod, it was far from accommodating and barely fit both of them on it. With his wrists bound behind his back, his hands were pressed tightly between the small of his back and Solliss's stomach. If anything jarred the speeder, the cuffs around his wrists would probably end up jamming right into Solliss's ribcage. Since the speeder had half a meter of clearance at least his long legs didn't drag on the ground, but there was also nothing he could brace his feet against to keep his balance better. Further back Soliss had wired up some foot pedals for controlling the side thrusters for his own use, and Rhagio had half a mind to stretch his legs back and hook his feet around the Imperial's ankles to give himself more stability. But he had a feeling he might get tossed off the speeder if he tried, so he made do with what he had and tried not to think about how sore he was going to be after a few hours of riding on this thing.

And he bore it well – for almost the entire first hour – before finally opening his mouth again. “Do you even know where you're going? This isn't northeast, this is almost due north. The ravines are _that_ way.”

***

“You just can't shut up for long, can you?” Soliss slowed the speeder as they climbed one more rolling hill, bringing it to a stop as they reached the crest. He slid off the speeder and circled back around to the repulsor sledge, rummaging around in one of the packs for a pair of macrobinoculars. As he adjusted their specs, he glanced back over at Rhagio. “You stay put.”

He scanned the horizon around them and spotted several large lumbering creatures grazing near some soggy-looking bushes, but they were far enough away to not be of any concern. Noting the compass readings built into the viewing field of the binocs, he frowned. “I thought I _was_ going northeast. How can you even tell?”

***

“Oh, same as you know how to work all these mechanical miracles. I paid attention in my 'How-To-Not-Die-In-The-Wilderness' class in Rebel School. Do Imperials not learn basic survival skills in –”

His snark was interrupted by a particularly loud grumble from his stomach, and he flushed three different shades of purple.

***

Soliss allowed himself a smirk at Rhagio's expense, but his own stomach was threatening to follow suit. He wordlessly rifled through one of the packs on the sledge and pulled out a canteen and a couple of ration bars, unwrapping them and shoving one unceremoniously in Rhagio's mouth. “You talk too much. Shut up and eat.”

He mechanically consumed the other bar and resumed scanning towards the northeast with the binocs, noting the rising terrain before eyeing the gathering storm far on the eastern horizon. The clouds there were getting darker, and the wind was definitely picking up. Judging from what Rhagio had told him earlier, they had less than four, maybe five hours before nightfall and the beginnings of rain.

He took several long, measured swallows from the canteen, draining half of it. With all that rain at least they wouldn't have to worry about a water supply. He turned and offered Rhagio the canteen, holding it up in front of his face. “Drink it all.”

***

Rhagio swallowed the last bit of his ration bar before obeying. He must be really dehydrated, because even plain water tasted good. He was glad to know Soliss didn't intend to starve him, but he hardly felt the need to feel appreciative. “So are you going to head for those ravines, or are we making shelter here? Exposed on the top of a hill.”

***

“Shut _up_.” Soliss tossed the empty canteen back into the pack and climbed back onto the speeder behind Rhagio. He revved it back up and coasted down the hill, turning to align it better towards the northeast.

It took them the better part of three hours before the land began to rise around them, forming shallow valleys that gave way to steep-sided ravines as they pressed on. The limp vegetation of the rolling plains was replaced by tall purplish trees with massive fern-like leaves and straight, smooth trunks. The wind howling high above the ravine walls made them sway slowly from side to side, and the rustle of their leaves was the only other sound they could hear.

Soliss slowed their velocity down to barely jogging speed, careful to avoid any obstacles in their path. Fortunately there wasn't much in the way of an understory to this forest, although he kept a suspicious eye on the spaces between the trees as they passed under the swaying branches. The large creatures he had seen on the plains had reminded him that there were also large predators around as well, and they could never be too cautious.

***

“What about there?” Rhagio would have pointed had his hands not been bound behind his back. “The rocky outcrop with all the grey moss.”

It looked to Rhagio like an ideal place to make camp. A hefty slab of shale pierced through the ground at a low angle, making an overhang they could easily duck under. The ground sloped gently downwards away from it for easy drainage and the immediate vicinity was dotted with other smooth-faced rocks adorned only with a dull grey moss. He didn't see much in the way of animal tracks, which meant it the overhang was probably not already claimed, at least not as a permanent home. “There's even room for the speeder.”

***

Soliss nodded, though Rhagio couldn't see it. He eased the speeder alongside the sloping wall of shale and brought it to a stop, sliding off the seat and immediately drawing the holdout blaster he had confiscated from Rhagio and strapped to his own arm. He motioned for Rhagio to stay put and edged his way further back under the overhang, inspecting every corner and cranny for any native creatures that could potentially be deadly. Finding nothing but a few insects and a lot of moss, he backed his way out and holstered the blaster.

“Clear.” He hoisted Rhagio up by his armpits and set him down on the ground. “How long do you say until it gets dark?”

***

Rhagio wobbled a little as he tried to find his feet again. The speeder ride had been long and uncomfortable, and not having anything to support his weight other than the cramped and narrow seat had left him feeling sore and out of balance. He squinted up at the sky through the trees. “I'd say we have about an hour of usable daylight left, maybe less. The sky is darkening pretty quick though, with all the clouds. It'll probably start off raining real light but it'll build. We'll have a downpour in a few hours – thunder, lighting, maybe hail depending on whatever atmospheric idiosyncrasies this planet has.”

***

Soliss noticed the instability in Rhagio's footing and kept a light grip on him until he found his balance. “How you can tell all that just by keeping track of clouds for a few hours is beyond me.” He released his hold on the Rebel and tugged open one of the packs, pulling out a few of the items they had organized earlier – water collection unit and filter, glow rod, thermal blanket, and a di-chrome shelter still collapsed into its palm-sized container. “You think it's practical to start a fire?”

***

Rhagio shook his head, watching as Soliss released the snaps on the shelter and allowed it to automatically unfold, setting up the water collection unit as it did so. He fidgeted with his hands, wishing the binders had been the kind that had a lock he could have picked. “Not with the coming weather, there'd be no point. The outcrop doesn't provide enough shelter to keep a fire from getting drowned out in a heavy downpour.”

***

“Hmm.” Soliss unfolded the thermal blanket on the floor of the shelter and tossed the glow rod inside. He turned to fetch another canteen from the back of the speeder and hung that just inside the flap opening before going back to grab one more thing from the pack. “I'm guessing that any predators that might hunt at night wouldn't be out in a storm either.”

He gestured to Rhagio. “Go on, get inside.”

***

Shrugging, Rhagio ducked down inside and seated himself as best he could on the blanket. “I'm not so sure about that one. That one creature that jumped me back by the escape pod was definitely amphibious – I'm guessing they come from the shores of the sea, or lake, or whatever it is, that's to the south a few kilometers from where my pod landed. I spotted it while I was falling.” He shifted around, trying to get vaguely comfortable. Sitting still hurt from trying to balance on that damned speeder for so long. “Anyway, if they're amphibious they might not have any problem with the rain.”

***

“Great.” Soliss climbed inside behind Rhagio, bringing the datapad he had snagged last minute. He sat down next to his Rebel captive and flicked it on. “My personal datapad was being fed all the data from our tactical stations and our navicomputer during the pursuit.”

***

Rhagio slid over closer to Soliss so he could see the screen better. “That's mighty convenient. Is that standard procedure?”

***

“It's _my_ standard procedure. I don't like not having all the information I might need later for proper reports.” He tapped a few keys and tilted his head at Rhagio. “Where are we?”

***

“How should I know?” Rhagio huffed and tugged at his bonds, irritated. “I don't know if you noticed but our jump out here was made by a faulty navicomputer. Our whole hyperdrive system was on the verge of collapse before we made that jump.”

***

“...Ah.” Soliss nodded absently, still tinkering with the pad. “No matter, I should have that data pulled somewhere. Let's see if we can figure out where we are.” He fell silent for a few moments as he searched his data files, then tilted the pad so Rhagio could see without craning his neck into more of his personal space. “Moro Cov IV.”

***

Rhagio raised an eyebrow and glanced from datapad to Soliss. “Where?”

***

“Exactly. There's nothing here.” He sighed. “And it's nowhere near anywhere else worth being, either. No resources, no settlements, no trade routes even remotely close. Not even a refuge for pirates or smugglers. Nobody comes out here because there's nothing to come out here _for_. It's just coordinates and a name. Dutifully logged a few thousand years ago while the Old Republic was mapping this part of the Outer Rim, and promptly forgotten.”

***

“Well, fabulous.” Rhagio sat back and nearly spat in frustration. “Guess it makes no difference or not whether my distress beacon was damaged. But I didn't see _yours_ anywhere either.”

***

Soliss pulled open a pouch on the stormtrooper belt still wrapped around his waist and drew out a palm-sized device. “I have a miniaturized rescue beacon, but I have no intention of turning it on until the charge on the main beacon inside my pod runs out.”

***

Rhagio blinked. “What main beacon? Most of that pod was slagged, and you had me rip off anything usable for that speeder of yours. I didn't see any beacon.”

***

Soliss rolled his eyes. “You have no eye for anything having to do with mechanical systems, do you?” He slipped the miniature beacon back into his belt. “I activated the built-in rescue beacon upon jettison, and left the components intact. That's partly why I lingered so long at the crash site. If there had been an Imperial presence within a few systems of here, it would have been detected immediately and an investigative team would have been dispatched. They would have been here by now if that were the case. But since this is Moro Cov IV, it is not. And since rescue is not immediately apparent, it doesn't make any sense to stay at an exposed crash site with an impending storm bearing down on us.”

***

Rhagio licked his bottom lip and shifted his position again, wishing he was more familiar with possible Rebel sympathizers that might be even vaguely near their location. “How far away is the nearest Empire-aligned outpost from here?” The thought of a shuttle-ful of Imperials descending on them suddenly seemed a little more threatening of a possibility.

***

Soliss raised an eyebrow, mentally noting the nervous restlessness in his captive. “Don't know, and I don't care. I have an Empire to get back to. And I'll get back one way or another.”

***

“Well good for you.” Rhagio drew his legs up to his chest and rested his chin on his knees. “ I wouldn't hold your breath.”

***

“Aren't there any other Rebel factions that knew where you were jumping to?” Soliss leaned to one side and propped himself up with an elbow, still fiddling with the data pad. If Rhagio knew of any terrorist cells in the area, that would prove useful once he was rescued and back in Imperial space.

***

“No. I'm not really 'in the loop' with that kind of thing. I do my job, I get paid, I help out a good cause. Nobody trusts me with that kind of info.” That had been a sore point of Rhagio's for months now. And partly he really couldn't blame them, he knew he toed the line of being a trustworthy sort to begin with. The fact that his people and their world had been completely taken over by the Empire certainly helped in getting others in the Alliance to befriend him, but there was something about the way they all seemed to still hold something over him. Like everyone else knew they were better somehow, but would never tell him why. He had a feeling it was because a Pathfinder held a reputation of being about as honorable a profession as a thief, particularly for the “honor-bound” Velabri.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and scowled. “And even if they _did_ trust me with that, I wouldn't give anything to _you_. Besides, even if anyone out there knew where we were going they wouldn't have been able to track the route, not with all the damage our hyperdrive had sustained and the navicomputer failing. As far as anyone on my side knows, we just vanished into blank space.”

***

Soliss looked up from his data pad, surprised at the bitterness behind some of Rhagio's words. “Would anyone come looking for you?”

***

Rhagio shook his head, trying and failing to bite back a sigh. “What, me personally? No. The freighter? They'd be worried, but I doubt it. We don't have the resources to spend looking for a single lost transport.”

***

Soliss closed down his datapad and leaned over to tuck it away in the far corner of the shelter. “Good.”

***

Rhagio flopped over on his side, turning his back to his captor. “Heartless kriffing Imperial trash.”

***

“Terrorist scum.” Soliss rolled over and stretched out on his stomach, noticing for the first time the light patter of fresh rain just beginning to fall outside their shelter. A faint rumble of thunder followed, and he listened in silence as the storm began to finally roll in.

...So no one would come looking for his Rebel. Interesting. He hadn't intended on implying he was glad the Rebels deemed Rhagio of too little importance or too high a risk to bother searching for, but the damage was done. And frankly, it didn't surprise him. Rebels were criminal and anarchic, it made perfect sense for them to abandon their own if they suspected they wouldn't be worth the effort of rescuing. Or perhaps, from Rhagio's words, didn't consider him a valuable part of their resistance in the first place.

Finally having a stretch of time to just sit and rest, Soliss began to take stock of the status of his injuries. He was starting to feel the tightness and discomfort of bandages in need of changing, and he growled in the back of his throat, not enthusiastic about ordering Rhagio to interact with him after they'd just exchanged words. He sat back up and unbuttoned his shirt, easing his arms out of his sleeves. The bacta patches had already worked miracles – he could manage to get his shirt off this time without hardly a twinge.

Of course, unwrapping the old bandages was another story. Rhagio had done a professional job putting them on, good enough that Soliss had a hard time figuring out how to get them _off_.

***

Rhagio had been listening to the storm as well, but the rustle of Soliss shifting around was enough to draw his attention back to his captor. He sat up and turned to face him again, curious. When he saw Soliss struggling to remove his old bandages, he rolled his eyes. “Oh for the love of – just come here and release me, I'll do it. You're going to end up ripping off the bacta patches along with the bandages if you keep that up.”

***

Soliss raised an eyebrow. Rhagio certainly was quick to help, and come to think of it had been that way from the start. Soliss didn't think he was _that_ pathetic with his injuries, particularly since he was already well on his way to healing, so maybe it was just something in the strange alien's nature. “All right, turn back around.”

He punched in the code that released the cuffs and rotated Rhagio back to face him. He handed him the roll of bandages and turned to the side so he could still keep an eye on the Rebel while he worked on his shoulder. “If nothing else, you're pretty useful for keeping me in one piece.”

***

“Oh gee, thanks. Good to know you haven't noticed at _all_ that I'm the only one with extensive experience at actually _surviving_ in places like this. So if you're trying to compliment me, give it up.” Rhagio scowled as he peeled back the bandages, taking care to ensure the patches beneath them stayed in place. “I'm helping you because if _you_ die, there goes half of _my_ chances of getting out of this alive as well. Doesn't matter if I have the ability to survive alone, we still have a better chance together.”

He removed the last of the old bandages and rolled them up, discarding them to the corner of the shelter before grabbing the bandage roll and tearing off new strips. “Even though you've got a _terrible_ personality.”

***

Soliss snorted. “You're one to talk, hotshot.” He lifted his arm and shifted to the side as the pressure of Rhagio's hands on his shoulder directed, trying to watch carefully how he applied the new bandages in case he had to do it himself at some point. He could practice on that injury on Rhagio's back – that bandage would need to be replaced tonight too.

***

“You keep calling me that.” He smoothed out the last of the bandages and rewound the couple of strips he hadn't used back onto the roll. “Not sure why.”

The bacta patches were working quickly, he noted. Soliss's movements were barely stiff, and he didn't seem hindered by too much pain. Bacta worked best if the patient was in top physical condition, so that probably had something to do with it – Soliss was built like a gladiator in the Kus'nar games. Rhagio blinked and shook his head to clear it. Best not to think about _that_.

***

Soliss shrugged his shoulder, satisfied with the better freedom of movement fresh bandages gave him. “It suits you. You act without thinking and you mouth off a lot.” He plucked the bandage roll out of Rhagio's hands and gestured with a finger. “Turn around, I'll get yours replaced too.”

***

Rhagio obeyed, skewering Soliss with a look before he turned his back to his captor and pulled his shirt over his head. “You know some people call that roguish and charming.”

***

“I call it insubordinate and reckless.” He mimicked the same slow way of peeling the bandages off that Rhagio had used on him, careful not to pull on the injury or the bacta patch underneath. Rhagio's wound was significantly shallower than Soliss's wounds, so he needed much less in the way of treatment. Judging from the fit of the bacta patch, he'd be nearly healed by tomorrow afternoon. “I'm surprised you're in as good of shape as you are, considering how much you seem to favor impulse.”

***

“I call it instinct.” Since he was still unbound, Rhagio used the opportunity to readjust the bandanna back over his face and stretch his arms. “Something tells me we didn't grow up using the same Basic dictionary.”

***

“Whatever. Hold still.” Soliss tapped Rhagio lightly on the shoulder in mild reprimand for squirming. “I'm almost done.”

He eyeballed Rhagio's back, smoothing down one stubborn corner of the last bandage before he was satisfied with his work. His gaze strayed back to Rhagio's left side and the wild pattern of burn marks there, each one tattooed over to hide the scars from a casual glance. Thin lines that jumped from place to place, branching out before sharply ending – they almost looked like they were caused by powerful jolts of electricity. He nearly made a move to tilt Rhagio forward so he could get a better look at the ones running down his ribcage, but checked himself. Last time he had attempted to satisfy his curiosity, Rhagio had reacted by flinching away and promising violence.

“You're done. Give me your hands again, I'm not leaving you loose.”

***

Rhagio could practically feel Soliss's eyes on him, acutely aware that he must be staring at his tattoos again. He hastily slipped his shirt back on before sliding his hands behind his back yet again. The metallic _click_ of the binders being locked into place made him heave a sigh behind his bandanna. “You really don't have to bother. You know I'm not going to go anywhere.”

***

“I'd rather not take that chance.” He released Rhagio and checked the positioning and charge of the holdout blaster strapped to his arm, then popped open the latches that sealed the door to the shelter. “I'll be right back.”

He wasn't gone more than a minute, returning thoroughly soaked but with a rations pack, a portable heating unit, and their second thermal blanket still in its package. He shook the water out of his hair and grabbed the shirt he had left lying on the floor of the shelter, using it to dry himself off as best he could. He tossed the rations pack into the corner for later and activated the heater, propping himself up against the back wall of the shelter to unfold the blanket. “The wind is making the rain come in at an angle, but everything is sealed on the speeder so nothing will be damaged. I hope these bandages won't shrink or warp when they get wet.”

***

Rhagio shook his head. “They're waterproof. I would have wrapped you up like a mummy if I knew you were going outside.” He jerked his head in the direction of Soliss's knee. “You're moving around pretty well though. We didn't check that yet, I can re-wrap it for you.” Anything to get out of the discomfort of the binders.

***

“Hmm.” Soliss stretched out and rolled up his pant leg, putting light pressure on all sides of his knee to test it. “It's a little sore but I'm not getting any more spikes of pain. I think I can re-wrap this on my own.”

He fell silent as he did so, again putting to practice the method he saw Rhagio using on his shoulder. Once his knee felt snug and well-supported again, he readjusted his clothes and grabbed the blanket he'd unfolded, curling it around his shoulders. “How well do Velabri handle the cold?”

***

“Well enough.” Rhagio shrugged. He'd been stuck on colder planets and with less supplies, he knew he could easily make do. Of course this was the first time he hadn't been able to freely move around and make his own independent survival decisions, so there was that to consider. “Why, are you actually deciding to care, or do I get to be tied outside like a guard garral?”

***

Soliss sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I'm not a _monster_ , you know. Forgive me for not wanting you to _freeze_ to death our first night on this forsaken rock.”

***

“What – ' _forgive'?_ –” Rhagio made a strangled sound at the back of his throat that could have been mistaken for an angry animal. He turned his back to Soliss and threw himself on the ground. “I'll be _fine_.”

He curled up on the blanket lining the floor, inching a little closer to the portable heater. The last thing he needed from Soliss – from an _Imperial_ – was to have to listen to him spout gibberish about actually thinking he _wasn't_ a monster. _Let him believe what he wants, I know what he is. The only reason I keep feeling sorry for him is because he's injured, but we all know what's going to happen once he's healed. I'm going to end up worse off than a slave._

***

Soliss blinked in surprise at Rhagio's sudden bout of hostility, noticing how he could see his whole body heaving with angry breathing even though his back was to him. He knew there was more to Rhagio's story than what little he already knew, but he doubted it would do any good to try and pry it out of him now.

He slid himself off of his corner of the blanket that was on the floor, and tossed it over Rhagio's shoulder. It was going to be a long night.

***

Rhagio felt the blanket fall over his shoulders and he nearly jumped in surprise. He had expected Soliss to do what he'd always done up until now – say that he talked too much and tell him to shut up. He clutched the blanket around his shoulders and pulled it tighter over him, trying to will his anger to stay and hoping that Soliss would say something stupid to validate his hostility.

But Soliss remained quiet. The only sounds he could hear were those of the raging storm outside. The rain continued to lash against the outer shell of the shelter, and thunder continued to roll. And as angry as Rhagio wanted to be, it was soothing. His stims were well on their way to wearing off, and if he didn't get some natural sleep sometime soon, he'd be running the risk of a seizure. He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes, willing sleep to come.

 


	4. Day One: Past Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soliss is jarred awake by an unexpected sound.

Soliss found himself drifting off within minutes of getting comfortable. The portable heater made the temperature in the shelter tolerable, and the thermal blankets did the rest. The sounds of the storm outside were a little unnerving, but the steady thrum of the rain against the shelter gave him enough to focus on that he could ignore the thunder. 

Even though his sleep schedule was eschewed horribly from its normal routine, he managed to get a solid six hours before waking up with a start. Something that sounded like a cry had jolted him from his sleep, making his eyes fly open in surprise and glance around in alarm for its source. 

***

Rhagio had never slept well. Dreams were his worst enemy, and the primary reason he found himself resorting to stims on a regular basis. The less he had to sleep, the less likely he'd have to wake covered in sweat and tears, screaming the names of people long dead. 

This time it wasn't so bad, at least comparably speaking. Just fleeting pictures and blurry images, and the fierce stab of phantom pain along his left side. He woke up gasping and yanking hard at the cuffs that held his hands fast behind his back, nearly kicking over the portable heater in an effort to fend off an unseen attacker. 

***

Soliss jumped when Rhagio woke up violently, nearly drawing his blaster on him before rapidly realizing the Rebel hadn't been conscious when he started thrashing around. He pulled himself up to kneel next to the other man, hand outstretched but not touching him. “Hey. Easy there. Calm down, you were just dreaming.” 

***

Rhagio blinked away the last remnants of nightmare, catching his breath as he twisted to stare up at Soliss. “Right,” he managed, voice already feeling cracked and rough. “' _Just dreaming_ '. Sure.” He squirmed around until he could seat himself upright, wincing as his sore and strained muscles protested. “What–” his voice cracked, and he tried again. “What did I say?”

***

“Say?” Soliss raised an eyebrow. “You didn't say anything. I just heard you... cry out. And thrash around.” Soliss leaned back to inspect the binders around his wrists. Rhagio had pulled so hard at his restraints in his sleep that red marks were starting to raise on his skin. “You did a number on yourself. Here, let's get those off.” 

***

Rhagio flinched when Soliss released the binders, and made the mistake of pulling his arms forward too fast. Having been so long in the same position behind his back, his muscles screamed in protest with the motion, and Rhagio couldn't help but groan. “Ahh – shit –” 

***

Realizing the cause of his captive's discomfort, Soliss pulled Rhagio's arms back almost to their original position, gently rubbing circles into his shoulders and biceps. “Relax. Give it a second to pass, it shouldn't take long.” He slowly moved Rhagio's limbs forward as he worked his way down his arms, finally releasing him when he reached his wrists. “Better?”

***

Rhagio scowled and rubbed at the red welts on his wrists that he'd given himself. He was gonna need some balm for those, they hurt like hell for such a light injury. “...Yeah, I guess.” He shivered in the tepid air of the shelter and crossed his arms to hide his new marks, hating how pathetic he must look to Imperial eyes. So much for putting on a brave front when faced with the enemy. 

***

Soliss knew that body language. He wasn't quite sure when the mental well-being of his captive had begun to be important, but he hazarded a guess that it had been about the same time Rhagio had deemed Soliss's own well-being something to worry about by treating his wounds. 

Pretending he thought Rhagio's body language was only about the cold, he grabbed the ends of the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders and drew them around Rhagio. “What was that all about?” 

***

Rhagio shrugged, squirming with Soliss being so close. But the warmth itself was nice, and he couldn't complain about finally being rid of those binders. “I just... don't sleep well, all right? My entire home planet was taken over by the Empire, you think that went over well? Shit happened. I survived. I don't sleep, but I survived.” 

***

Ah. And here Soliss was, sole representative of the authority that had thrown a hydrospanner in Rhagio's life. He rested a hand lightly on the back of his left shoulder, careful to keep contact on the fabric of his shirt and not to brush bare skin. “...Was that also when you received these scars?”

***

“I don't want to talk about it.” He tried to shy away from Soliss's touch, but that brought him out from the warmth of the thermal blanket and he sat back again quickly, huffing in irritation. “You have a knack for finding all the wrong things to ask about, don't you?”

***

Since Rhagio was facing away from him he couldn't see the faint smile Soliss allowed himself. He removed his hand from Rhagio's back and pulled open another pouch on his belt. He knew there was a single-use packet of salve in there, somewhere. “I have a knack for finding all of the things that _need_ to be asked, yes.” Ah, there it was. He flicked open the cap with his thumb and squeezed the contents out onto his palm. He slowly reached his arms around Rhagio to take his wrists in a gentle grip, working the salve over the red marks on his skin. “But no one is forcing you tell me.” 

***

“Good, because I'd rather wrestle a gundark than spill my life story to an Imperial, _Commander_.” He shoved an elbow back behind him to jab Soliss in the ribs, but it was half-hearted and his words lacked bite, too. He was still tired, and still sore, and even though Soliss was so close behind him that Rhagio was practically sitting in his lap, he couldn't keep up the energy to remain combative or attempt to push him away. He doubted Soliss would allow him another stim-shot, and that wouldn't be a good idea anyway, regardless of how loudly his body complained it needed one. 

***

Soliss took the elbow to his ribs without comment, continuing to rub the salve over Rhagio's welts until they absorbed fully into his skin. The redness was already fading, leaving only a few scratches to tell where the binders had dug into Rhagio's muted purple-brown skin. “If you insist on always using sarcasm when addressing me by my rank, just call me by my first name and dispense with the attitude.” 

He sighed, breath unintentionally ghosting past Rhagio's ear. He ran his thumb idly over the knuckles on Rhagio's left hand, tracing the pattern of tattoos. These had no scars under them, although further up his arm he could see the tell-tale signs of marred skin begin beneath the inked patterns before they disappeared under his sleeve. “We are both a long way from home. I suppose for the time being, rank has little meaning.” 

***

Rhagio tried to suppress a shiver from the idle contact and the breath by his ear, but had a feeling he failed miserably. “I'll be damned if I haven't forgotten your first name by now. And are you _always_ this touchy?” 

***

Soliss quirked up an eyebrow and released his hold on Rhagio's hands, but made no motion to move away. “I won't hurt you, if that's what you're worried about. I thought you were cold.” 

***

Rhagio's face flushed a new shade of purple, and he was immediately glad he wasn't facing Soliss. “Have you _seen_ yourself? You're huge and musclebound and I'm _not_. Of _course_ that's what I'm worried about. And i t's not _that_ cold in here.” 

Still, he found himself reluctant to move away. Imperial or not, he was warm and comfortable sitting here, and why should  _he_ have to be the one being all awkward and fidgety? Fuck it. He flopped back against Soliss's chest and blew out a breath in annoyance. “You could break me in  _half_ , for fuck's sake.” 

***

Soliss jumped when Rhagio suddenly let himself fall back against him, but let himself smile at his muttered reply. He curled his arms back around Rhagio, this time letting the backs of his fingers brush along his forearms as he tucked him a little closer. “I won't, though. Have I  _ever_ hurt you?” 

***

Rhagio blinked. Frowned, then blinked again. He...  _hadn't,_ actually. Not even so much as roughed him up when he first caught him out by the rocks near the escape pod. Slowly he allowed some of the tension to drain from his muscles and relaxed into the arms holding him. “...I guess not.” 

***

Soliss scooted them both back until he was comfortably leaning against the wall of the shelter, and tucked the thermal blanket more snugly around them. He sighed a little to himself, acutely aware of his awkward and ever-so-slightly compromised position. Once he got back to Imperial space, he was going to have to conveniently leave out an awful lot from the official report. 

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, focusing on the sound of the rain outside and the carefully measured breathing of the Rebel in his arms. 

“...My name is Katar.” 


	5. Day Two: Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katar and Rhagio get off to a rocky start in the morning, but begin to scout out the area none the less.

The muted snuffling sounds of a large animal woke both Rebel and Imperial, and Rhagio nearly jumped a foot in the air before his brain caught up with his reflexes and he remembered where he was. He held up a finger to hush any questioning sounds from Katar and crawled forward towards the flap of the shelter, focusing intently on the noise coming a mere meter or two from outside. A few tense moments of listening and he sighed, relaxing a little. “I don't think it's carnivorous.” He inched his way back to sit beside Katar, keeping his voice low. “I think it's one of those grazing animals we passed while we were on the speeder. I don't know how dangerous they are if approached or provoked, but I don't think we're being hunted.”

***

Katar eyeballed him and loosened the grip on his blaster he had white-knuckled when he had been jarred awake. “You know that from a few snorts? How can you _tell_?” He shifted his weight, making sure he could get off a few shots unhindered if the creature decided to force its way inside. “Whatever it is, it better not try to get into anything on the speeder or I'll plug it full of shots.” 

He listened carefully to the continued snuffling outside, but the noises seemed to fade off to the right as the moments passed. He leaned to the side and retrieved the pack of ration bars from where he had left them the night before. “Either way, we have to eat too. Here.” 

***

“I can tell because I'm actually kind of good at this survivalist thing? I thought I'd mentioned that already? I have a lot of experience figuring out if the local wildlife may or may not want to eat me.” Rhagio took the proffered bar and munched on it thoughtfully, watching Katar wolf his own ration down before folding up the blankets and placing everything carefully back into its original packets. Sleep seemed to have done both of them good, although he couldn't imagine that really helping either of their situations in the long run. “So what happens now?” 

***

“Now?” Katar bound everything together in a little bundle and set it beside the door, leaving only the medical supplies loose. “Now we change our bandages, secure everything we won't immediately need, and scout out the area. Does that meet with your master survivalist approval, Pathfinder?” 

***

Rhagio rolled his eyes. “Yeah, actually, it does. Thanks for _asking_.” He snatched up the bandage roll and unwound a few long strips, making a twirling motion with a finger to get Katar to turn around. “At least I'm ' _Pathfinder'_ now instead of ' _Velabri'_. Don't spoil me too much now, it might go to my head.” 

***

It was Katar's turn to roll his eyes, but he moved to the side so Rhagio could remove his old bandages on the back of his shoulder. “We can leave the speeder here and go on foot for the immediate area. I think if I take it slow, my knee won't give me any trouble.” He started removing the wrap around his knee, rotating it slowly from side to side and feeling relief that there wasn't much pain or swelling left. “With all of  _your_ experience as a survivalist, you should be able to tell what's edible and what's not, and what might be useful towards constructing secure and more permanent shelters if we'll need them, correct?” 

***

“Yeah, pretty much.” Rhagio peeled away Katar's bandages and checked the bacta patches underneath. “But I can't work miracles, though. We can expect to revert back to stone-age level technology once the power cells we already have die out, which I'm guessing will be a matter of maybe a few weeks, if we're lucky.” He carefully re-wrapped Katar's torso, pleased that he was healing so fast. “So as long as you're aware of that, and don't blame me for it.”

***

“Why would I blame that on you?” Katar finished with re-bandaging his knee and turned back to face Rhagio again, lightly pushing at Rhagio's shoulder. “Turn around, let me get the one on your back.” 

***

“I'm just covering my ass. Been blamed for stupider things.” He obeyed and pulled his shirt up to his shoulders again. “And I don't know if you actually think your transmitter is going to reach anyone, but I suggest we act as though it won't. We should treat this place like we're stuck here permanently, because otherwise we're going to get real disillusioned real fast if it turns out to be true, and _that_ can kill you way faster than whatever this planet might throw at us.” 

***

Katar made a noise of acknowledgment as he gently stripped the old bandages from Rhagio's back. “I don't hear any rain out there, so at least we can scout around without getting soaked.” He pushed lightly on the back of Rhagio's neck to get him to lean forward as he picked at one of the corners of the bacta patch. It came away easily, revealing skin that was almost entirely healed, save for a faded red line where the gash used to be. “I don't think you actually need anything more, unless it's still tender for you.”

***

Rhagio shifted a little, testing his movement. “Huh. Doesn't feel half bad. We have any antibio cream left? Maybe slap a bit of that on there and be done with it.” He yawned and stretched, irritated at himself for already feeling sluggish without a stim-shot. Somehow he didn't think Katar would let him have one this early in the morning. Or, _ever_ , for that matter. He wrinkled his nose. It was going to be a long day. 

***

“We have plenty.” Katar pulled the needed tube from their supply bundle and squeezed a generous portion onto his hands, rubbing it gently into Rhagio's skin. Having him lean forward like this allowed Katar another look to fuel his curiosity about the burns underneath Rhagio's tattoos. He found himself subconsciously tilting Rhagio further forward and a little to the side as he eyed them. They were _definitely_ caused by thin, strobing, highly charged volts of electricity, released in short but powerful bursts. Almost exactly like the kind one would find utilized around an Imperial garrison security fence. 

***

Rhagio felt himself being moved around yet again so Katar could inspect his tattoos, and after a moment of attempting to tolerate it he flinched away. He yanked his shirt down and pulled his bandanna back over the lower half of his face. “Knock it off. I'm not a specimen under glass, find someone else to poke and prod at.” 

***

Katar let him go, inwardly sighing both at himself and at Rhagio. “I needn't remind you that you're the only other one here,” he muttered dryly, “and I wasn't prodding.” He picked up their supply bundle and unlatched the entrance to their shelter. “Why do you wear that thing anyway?” 

***

“I don't have to explain a damn thing to you.” Rhagio shoved past him and ducked through the opening, squinting even though the hazy red light of morning was dim and watery. Thick clouds still hung overhead, but they would wait to release their rain until nearly sunset. About a hundred meters to their right a half dozen of the grazing creatures they had seen the afternoon before were browsing on the foliage around the base of the trees, oblivious or ignoring the presence of outsiders. A light breeze brought the smell of wood and dirt and even the salt spray of a sea that must be kilometers away. Turning in a slow circle to orient himself, Rhagio adjusted his bandanna and started mentally mapping the area. 

***

Katar ducked out of the shelter and sealed it behind him, setting their overnight bundle back under the tarp covering the back of the speeder. He grabbed Rhagio by the wrist and turned him around to face him, eyes narrowed. “I want to make one thing very clear, Pathfinder. I will put up with a lot of your sarcasm and sass, and I would rather we be able to work together smoothly, but the second you think you don't have to answer a question I put to you, or show me disrespect in any way, we are going to have a problem. The _last_ thing I need is another problem. I don't care if you _do_ have extensive experience surviving on your own, if you walk away from me while I am talking to you again, I will tie you to a tree and _leave_ you here while I scout out the area on my own. Understood?”

***

Rhagio's white eyes glared up at Katar. “Understood, _Commander._ Loud and clear, _sir._ Good to know where I _actually_ stand. Now let go of me, because if you squeeze any tighter you're gonna hurt me.” 

***

Katar quickly released Rhagio's wrist, surprised at his own grip. “I was not going to hurt you. We've been over this.”

***

“Tell that to my wrist. _Sir._ ” Rhagio rubbed it absently. “Are we actually going to explore our new little home, or sit around and argue all day? _Sir_. ” 

***

Resisting the urge to smack Rhagio upside the head, Katar took a few steps to the side and picked up a fallen branch. He slipped a small knife from his pocket and proceeded to whittle off the smaller twigs, making himself a comfortable walking stick to ease any potential pressure on his healing leg. He gestured towards the forest, where the ravine floor sloped slowly down and the shadows were deepest. “The first thing I want to know is what might be lurking around in there.” 

***

It was a pleasant enough walk, Rhagio had to admit. _Despite_ the company. They had easily found a game trail and were following its descent through the ravine, careful to leave markers on the vegetation as they passed. The plants around them had mottled, dark purple trunks and bark smooth to the touch, although Rhagio hesitated to call them “trees”. They were more like giant ferns or horsetails, their stalks and leaves in alternating violets and greens. Most of the undergrowth seemed to be low-lying ferns and thick, spongy mosses, so they had no trouble seeing deep into the surrounding forest. But as their elevation lowered a mist gathered about the bases of the trees, and soon they found themselves in a thick fog. 

Rhagio shook his head and stopped on the trail, glancing back at Katar. “This won't do us any good for familiarizing ourselves with the area, _or_ for identifying predators. We should turn back and cover ground a little closer to the campsite... _Sir_.”

***

Katar came up to stand beside Rhagio and released a sigh. “Just stop with the ' _sir_ ', all right? It loses all meaning if it is spouted only as sarcasm.” He peered around them, noting with chagrin that the fog had indeed grown so thick that even the lack of underbrush couldn't facilitate a better line of sight. 

***

“ _First_ you tell me to address you with _all due respect_ , and _then_ you tell me to call you by your name and to _relax_ , and _then_ you have the _gall_ to get pissed off when I don't jump to when and where you say so, and _now_ you want me to dispense with the honorifics again?” Rhagio huffed behind his bandanna. “ _So which is it?_ You want me to walk on eggshells around you? I can do that. Just by wearing that damn Imperial uniform already means I'm gonna be scared shitless of what you're capable of. You could snap my neck like a twig. And right now I'm getting the vibe that I'm never going to be able to do anything right, and one day you're going to get mad enough for that to _happen_.” 

***

Katar just stood and blinked at Rhagio, both eyebrows raised. But before he could respond a high, keening shriek pierced the misty air, flanked by another ululating call coming from a little closer to their left. A shadow shifted silently behind the fog, and Katar curled a hand around Rhagio's forearm. His Rebel was still unarmed – and while Katar had no reason to believe Rhagio was totally defenseless without a weapon, he still pulled him closer. 

Drawing his blaster and training it on the shadows deep in the woods, he whispered low. “Stay close.”

***

Rhagio could smell the salt of the sea, and damp flesh like rotting shellfish. It had to be one of those amphibious creatures like the one that had originally attacked him when he and Katar first met. No... two of them. Those piercing cries had flanked them – the animals were coordinating their own movements, synchronizing their potential attack. 

He touched Katar's arm and whispered fiercely in his ear. “ _We're being hunted._ ”


	6. Day Two: Hunted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhagio and Katar's exploration attempt is cut abruptly short.

The hairs on the back of Katar’s neck stood straight on end, and his intuition told him a split second before one of the creatures lurking about in the mist lunged forward, jaws gaping wide. He had a brief glimpse of double rows of serrated teeth as he jumped back, pulling Rhagio against him to keep him as far from the snapping jaws as he could. He whirled to the side and let off three shots, two burning through thick slimy hide before the third found its mark between the tiny eyes at the top of the creature’s skull. It released a throaty, gurgling moan before slumping to the ground. Katar didn’t wait to spot the second animal. Pulling from reserves he didn’t know he had, he clamped his grip tightly around Rhagio’s wrist and fled full tilt, dragging Rhagio behind him. 

***

Rhagio kept up with his Imperial easily, but the slant of the ground beneath their feet and the feel of the forest around them made him try to slow their escape. He made a futile attempt to pull his wrist away from Katar’s grip. “No, wait – Katar, the ground here, it’s - ”

He didn’t have a chance to finish. The forest floor suddenly dropped away beneath their feet, dissolving into the edge of a cliff. 

***

They tumbled down the steep slope, hurling over rocks and debris as they half-skidded, half-fell. Refusing to let go of Rhagio, Katar released his grip on his blaster and let it fall, using his free arm to grasp at the exposed tree roots that jutted out of the dirt. His grip managed to snag one of the roots, suddenly halting their descent and slamming them both against the near-vertical side of the cliff. He lay there gasping for a moment, trying to catch his breath and ignore the pain and strain on his already-taxed leg. “Are you - ” Pause. Pant. “Are you all right?” 

***

Rhagio dangled by Katar’s grip on his wrist, and scrambled to find what little purchase he could on the rock. Katar had managed to grab a hold of one of the last and lowest visible tree roots sticking out of the side of the cliff, and Rhagio couldn’t find anything else to hold onto. “Yeah. I’m – I’m okay. Kriffing hell.” 

***

Katar pulled Rhagio up easily, drawing him up to eye level and bracing him against the side of his hip. “Here, hang on to my neck. I think I can get us up to that ledge.” He jerked his head up and towards the left, indicating a lip of rock about a meter above them and barely half that in width.

***

Rhagio didn’t spare himself words of acknowledgement, only obediently wrapped his arms around Katar’s neck. He clung there as Katar maneuvered them both to the tiny ledge, giving them barely enough room to brace their weight against the rock. 

***

Katar found a few more root holds as he pulled the both of them up onto the rock, looping one arm through the thickest root so he could free his other arm to curl back around Rhagio’s waist, pulling him flush against him. “There’s another ledge further up, I think I can swing a leg up there if you grab a hold of that bunch of roots about a third of a meter away. You see it? Keep your grip tight and I should be able to -”

***

“Look as much as I enjoy our little talks, I really don’t want your voice to be the last thing I hear before I die.” Rhagio’s eyes scanned the rock face above them, picking out loose areas of dirt and possibly unstable stone. He formed a mental map of several possible ways of ascent, none of which could support two people at the same time. He heaved a sigh, still trying to catch his breath. 

***

Katar snorted. Even in dire peril, his Rebel couldn’t help but make snarky commentary. “Just do as you’re told and maybe you’ll survive this.” 

***

“ _I’m_ the one with the survival skills, _Commander_.” He huffed and threw a significant glance up overhead. “A nd if I do as I’m told we’re _both_ going to die because that animal is _still up there_.”

***

Katar followed Rhagio’s eyes and spotted the creature that had pursued them, lurking at the top of the cliff. “...Ah.”

He frowned. “I could probably shoot it from here. If you can hold on with one hand, get the holdout blaster from the holster under my sleeve.”

***

Both of Rhagio’s eyebrows shot straight up. “If you do that, it’s going to fall straight down this cliff and right on top of us. You’d do a fabulous job of killing all three of us then.”

***

Katar grunted in frustration. “What do you suggest we do then, Pathfinder? We can’t very well stay here all day, and climbing down is not an option. This cliff looks like an overhang further down.” 

***

“Yes, thank you for pointing out what I’ve already noticed. I’ve got some experience climbing down overhangs, but certainly not with someone else attached.” He scrutinized the cliff above them, watching the creature pace. “So we _could_ try to go down, but I can’t guarantee you’d make it to the bottom unbroken.  So, there’s that. Or we wait.” 

***

Katar glanced down, eyes following the rocky face of the cliff as it faded further down into the murky fog coalescing far below them, and he promptly shook his head. “...We wait.”

***

Rhagio shifted as much of his weight as he dared from Katar’s body to the face of the cliff, finding a few cracks he could press his fingers into as handholds. He could feel Katar persist in holding him close, though, and while it annoyed him he had little choice but to put up with it while they practically dangled off the side of the cliff.   
It wasn’t more than ten or fifteen minutes before the sounds of the creature above them faded away, and Rhagio waited a few moments longer before attempting to stir. “I don’t hear it any more,” he whispered, “I’ll climb up and take a look around, see if the coast is clear.” 

***

His grip still firm around Rhagio’s slender waist, Katar shook his head, emphatically. “I should be the one to do it. Here, take the same grip-” He indicated his hand looped around the root, “And I’ll go up to check. It shouldn’t come loose, it’s the most secure spot.” 

***

“What makes you think you should be the one to check? Particularly since I’m the one that can more easily move here, and _also_ have more experience dealing with wild animals. ” Rhagio’s annoyance grew ever greater, and he squirmed against Katar’s hold on him. Not the wisest thing to do under the circumstances, but he needed to move. Now. 

***

Katar snorted and shifted his grip on Rhagio in response to his wriggling about. “It’s my responsibility to keep you safe. Stop squirming.” 

***

“Your responsibility. Right.” Rhagio scoffed and twisted smoothly out of Katar’s grip, shimmying up the rock as quick as he dared without asking another word from the Imperial. He disappeared over the edge within minutes, leaving Katar hanging by the root on the cliffside. 

***

Katar almost called out for him, demanding that he stop, but held his tongue. He had no way of knowing if loud noises would draw the creature back in this direction, so he began to climb up after Rhagio instead. His progress was slow and halting, and he nearly lost his grip after only gaining only a few meters of height. He stopped for a moment, trying to give his already-strained knee some time to rest. It almost looked like there was less than a meter left to go, but his leg felt like it was shaking. 

***

Rhagio’s head popped over the ledge, and he raised an eyebrow at Katar’s attempt at progress. “It’s all clear. For the moment.” He kept his voice at a whisper and knelt down at the edge, reaching down to offer Katar his hand. 

***

“’For the moment’? That’s not reassuring.” Katar reached up and took his hand, although he tried to keep his weight on the cliffside as much as possible, very aware of how slender his Rebel looked. He didn’t want to accidentally yank Rhagio off the cliff in trying to pull himself back up. 

***

After a few aborted attempts, Rhagio managed to tug Katar upright to stand next to him, and he couldn’t help but pluck a loose bit of grass from Katar’s collar. “Just move slowly and quietly,” Rhagio whispered, “And we should be fine.” He turned and slowly made his way back into the forest, beckoning Katar to follow. 

***

Keeping his voice at the same whisper as Rhagio, Katar brought himself up to Rhagio’s side. His leg felt tender and strained, especially without his walking stick, but at least he could still put his weight on it. “What do you mean?” 

***

Rhagio didn’t answer right away, but took another handful of steps before gesturing to their left. Barely visible in the mist was the creature, completely ignoring them as it wolfed down the remains of the animal that Katar had shot. He pressed on through the forest, retracing their steps from earlier. He waited until they were well outside of earshot of the creature before he spoke again, yet still in a whisper. “Since they’re amphibians, it will gorge itself with as much food as it can, and then it’ll probably be pretty sluggish and uninterested in hunting for a while. Probably several weeks, at least.” 

***

Katar shook his head. “I still don’t like it. If those things keep territories and regularly hunt in pairs or groups, our camp is still in a dangerous place. We need to move on.” 

***

Rhagio nodded. “We should still keep to the ravines to avoid the winds, but maybe an area that has fewer trees and a steeper slope. If we can find a really big tree, we might even manage some sort of treehouse. Those amphibians are definitely not climbers, and I haven’t seen any large flying animals to worry about.” 

***

“That doesn’t sound practical. If we need to avoid wind we shouldn’t be in the trees.” Katar took the lead when the terrain grew more familiar as they approached their campsite. “We’ll stay on the ground.” 

***

As they drew near to the camp, Rhagio’s eyes widened. “Yeah. Because that’s working so _well_.” He thrust a hand out towards their camp… or where it used to be. Huge ragged claw marks raked across the di-chrome shelter, leaving it torn open to the elements. Tooth marks bent the back sledge of the speeder, and half of the carefully-wrapped items in the back had been destroyed. The speeder itself was in decent condition – it seemed as though the amphibian that had wreaked havoc on their campsite hadn’t been able to get a decent hold on it. The repulsor field beneath it had enabled it to simply skid several meters from its original place as the creature had shoved it around. 

***

Katar swore under his breath as he approached the speeder and ran his hands along the damaged metal. It didn’t appear as if anything would affect its performance, but their carrying capacity had diminished by half. And looking around, he scowled. Apparently that diminished capacity wouldn’t be much of a problem, as over half of their supplies appeared beyond saving. He picked up a few salvageable items and tossed them haphazardly on the sledge. 

“We’re leaving. Get on.” Without waiting for Rhagio to respond, Katar picked him up around his waist and hoisted him onto the speeder. He climbed on immediately after and kicked the bike into gear. 

***

Katar’s foul mood was palpable, so Rhagio deemed it prudent to keep relatively silent as they rode through the underbrush of the ravine forest. Having their already-limited supplies raided was a setback they couldn’t really afford, and they both knew it. Rhagio decided that it would be wise if he spent his time mentally cataloging the plants that passed them by. He had already made some notes in his head about what plants he knew would be safe for them to try themselves, and he had a good idea about a few others. Moro Cov IV might be useless for marketable resources, but there was an abundance of edible food. If they could just find a way to keep a predator-proof shelter maintained, they shouldn’t have a problem living here. 

It was nearing sunset by the time they found a place Katar was willing to stop at. They had worked their way north and east along the edge of the ravine until the land began to slope upwards again into a lightly-treed plateau. Rhagio had been studying any animal sign he could spot along the way, and it had been over two hours since he had seen the last indication of the recent presence of any large carnivorous amphibian. The smell of salt had finally left the air, and the skies were clear under the reddening rays of the setting sun. 


	7. Day Two: An Understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhagio and Katar find a new place to set up camp, but their minds are preoccupied.

They found a thick but small copse of the fern-like trees, and once Katar had been satisfied that any large animal would have a difficult time forcing their way inside, he conceded to making camp. He immediately started working on erecting as much of a shelter as he could with their remaining supplies, and ordered Rhagio to start collecting downed branches. “I’ll need both thick branches and ones with as many fronds as you can find, to help support the roof. Quickly, we don’t have a lot of time before we lose our light.” 

***

Rhagio started piling fronds in one heap and thicker branches in another, stripping some of them of their leaves to make them easier for Katar to work with. He glanced up at the slowly darkening sky as he worked. No clouds, aside from a few dissolving whips towards the west. The smell of rain was still faint in the air, but he was beginning to realize that this world, or at least their part of it, was just rather damp in general. “Hey, it’s clear tonight so we can build a fire. Most animals are fearful of fire anyway.” 

He started making a third pile for tinder and fuel, pausing to use his bandanna to wipe his forehead before tucking it back over his nose again. 

***

“Move it. We’re almost done.” He finished tying the last of the larger branches into place, then turned to pull their remaining blankets into their new shelter. “I have a lighter in my belt. Pile that up higher, I don’t want to have to search for more fuel halfway through the night.” 

***

Rhagio scowled under his bandanna and shot a venomous look in Katar’s direction. “You know it couldn’t hurt you to _ask_ instead of order me around all the time.” 

***

Katar met Rhagio’s scowl with a snarl. “You are under the mistaken assumption that any of this is negotiable.” 

***

Rhagio’s white eyes narrowed to slits, and he abruptly straightened. “You know what, fuck you. Fuck you and your kriffing macho military posturing. Enjoy your little camp, I will get on just fine by myself.” He turned to leave. 

***

Katar drew the holdout blaster from its holster on his arm and released the safety, pointing it at Rhagio’s retreating back. “No. You won’t.” 

***

Rhagio froze when he heard the tell-tale  _click_ of the safety on the blaster.  He slowly turned around, glaring daggers at Katar. “...So this is how it is.” He moved at a snail’s pace back to their new fire ring, eyes not leaving Katar’s blaster. 

***

“Sit down.” Katar motioned quickly to a spot a meter away from him, across from the pile of tinder. “I don’t want things to work like this, but if they have to then so be it.” 

***

Rhagio sat down where he was told, unblinking eyes boring into Katar. He said nothing, just sat there cross-legged, tense and rigid and beginning to shake with fury. 

***

Katar mirrored Rhagio’s motion and sat down next to the fire ring. Using his free hand he drew his lighter from his belt and lit the pile of wood, the tinder catching easily. In moments there was a crackling ring of warmth and light that neither of them seemed to feel. Both just stared at each other, then at the flames, as the last of sunset’s light died in the growing dark. 

Katar tossed a glance up at the night sky full of stars before risking another look at Rhagio. He was staring into the fire, hands folded white-knuckled on his lap.  Katar was pretty sure his shaking was out of anger instead of cold or fear, and he wished he didn’t have that damned bandanna over his face so he could have read him better. 

Katar sighed and tucked his blaster back into its holster. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, suddenly feeling very weary and very alone. 

***

Rhagio  looked back up at Katar when he saw motion out of the corner of his eye. He watched him for a long moment – watched the hand on his face, watched the other slowly flex open and closed, as though it didn’t know what its owner wanted it to do. Watched his slow and deliberately measured breathing as Katar focused on whatever intensive internal war he had going on inside his head. There was a heavy and palpable exhaustion surrounding Katar, and it had nothing to do with sleep. 

Rhagio looked back into the fire and let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “So… What now?” 

***

Katar looked up, surprised at the break in the  quiet . He scrutinized Rhagio for a moment, as if trying to gain some new shred of insight into his thoughts. He didn’t find whatever it was he was looking for, and he shook his head. “I don’t know. It appears we stalemate each other every time.” 

He returned his gaze to the fire. “I don’t want us to be at each other’s throats all the time.  And everything I say seems to provoke .  But I don’t intentionally do so. ” 

***

Rhagio blinked, but made no move to turn his gaze from the fire.  _If this is an attempt at an apology, he’s piss-poor at it._ But his anger was already beginning to cool. He knew as well as Katar that they couldn’t afford to hate each other out here, despite how tempting it was sometimes. 

***

When Rhagio made no motion to respond, Katar  rubbed his temples and sighed. “...I don’t understand you. I can’t read you. I don’t know if it’s because you’re an alien or if it’s because you’re a Rebel and I’m Imperial, or perhaps both.  But I can’t understand you if I don’t know  _why_ everything I do upsets you.” 

He stoked  the flames with a stick  and lapsed into silence .  He was beginning to realize that unless his Rebel actually spelled things out for him, he would eternally be fumbling about in the metaphorical dark.  The crackling of the fire and the rustle of a light breeze through the tops of the trees eased a small part of the tension that gripped Katar’s spine, and he leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees. “ Tell me -” He paused, shook his head. “Would you… tell me what happened to you? How you got those scars that you hide beneath tattoos?” 

***

Rhagio hesistated. It had been years, even before first Death Star had obliterated Alderaan, yet the memories still clung to him as if it had happened mere weeks ago. He’d never talked about it. There’d never been anybody to talk _to_ about it, none that he would have cared to tell at least. But here? There was just him and Katar, and no promise of that changing any time soon. He tossed a stray stone into the fire and sighed. “Look. There’s a thing you should know first, and it’s that I’m not really… an exemplary model of renowned Velabri honor, alright? I’m not on real great terms with anyone from homeworld anymore.”

***

Katar nodded, but didn’t interrupt with any clarifying questions just yet. Whatever Rhagio was going to tell him, he was going to tell him in his own time. 

***

Rhagio tugged at the knot at the back of his head that held his bandanna over his face, and pulled it off. “On homeworld, Velabri Lancers are considered the most elite, most honorable caste of warriors we have. They don’t flinch, they don’t run or hide from battle or pain, or even certain death. But in order to do their duty as warriors, they need to rely on the reconnaissance of others.” He stared down at the fabric, running a finger over the stylized jawbone pattern. “That is the Pathfinders’ job. We lurk in the shadows, see all but are never seen, and never face our enemies head-on. We are the necessary evil of the warrior way. A shame to our people but one they must abide while there is still fighting to be done. And there’s always fighting to be done.” He sighed. 

***

Again Katar nodded. “And you’re a Pathfinder.” He could liken it to Imperial naval command always having disparaging remarks for the ISB or Imperial Intelligence, although from the sound of it the Pathfinders and Lancers were far more deeply rooted in cultural superstition and fervor over heritage than the Empire’s internal squabbling could ever be. 

***

A slow shrug from Rhagio. “Yeah. You’re born into your role. Pathfinders are dexterous, quick, able to get in and out of tight spaces easily, fast reflexes. I couldn’t be anything _but_ a Pathfinder. Lancers are… well they’re built like you.” 

***

Katar allowed himself a weak smile. He was pretty sure that according to Rhagio the resemblance stopped there, but that didn’t appear to be the direction he was steering this conversation, so Katar kept silent. 

***

“So when the Empire came, we all played our roles. Or we tried to. Your Imperial garrisons get constructed shockingly fast, you know? We didn’t really stand all that much of a chance.” He picked at the corner of his bandanna and smoothed it over his knee. “And some of us weren’t all that great at our roles. I… I got captured. Just outside the garrison. Tried to fight my way free. Failed.” 

***

Even though Rhagio never looked up, Katar could see his eyes glaze over, remembering everything in vivid clarity. If he’d been sitting next to him, Katar would have reached over and squeezed his shoulder in some awkward and ill-advised attempt at comfort, but it was probably just as well that he was on the other side of the fire.

***

“I managed to kill one of their lieutenants and cut up one of the commanding officers pretty bad, though. So he thought it’d be a fitting comeuppance to kill a member of my house in front of me, then throw me into the security fence.” His tone was almost casual, but he flinched as he said the words. “...Not really sure how long I laid there. Pretty sure they thought I was dead. But when I could finally move again, I just… ran.” For the first time, shame crept across Rhagio’s face. “...Haven’t really stopped running since.” 

***

Katar swallowed and looked down at the wood crackling in the fire, unsure how to respond. He settled for a technical question instead. “How did you get off-planet?”

***

Rhagio curled his lip, revealing sharpened canines Katar had never noticed before. “I did what I do _best_. I _hid_ like a _coward_. I stowed away on a transport hauling confiscated materials and ship-hopped through spaceports until I ran into a Rebel cell. They _assumed_ that since I was _Velabri_ _,_ I was just as wrapped up in being honor-bound and righteous-minded as the rest. Didn’t take them long to figure out  the difference when they were _kind_ enough to introduce me to the Lancers they’d recruited after the occupation of homeworld.” 

***

Katar winced internally. That  reunion  couldn’t have gone over well, but he didn’t want to pick at an already-reopened wound, so he didn’t ask further questions about it. “But you stayed with the Rebellion.”

***

A short laugh. “I didn’t really have much of a choice, did I? But yeah, I stayed. They might have picked up on the disdain from the other Velabri, but at least they didn’t treat me like I was _diseased_.” He took a deep breath, and let it out  slowly. “So. Anyway. I got tattoos. Time passed, here we are. Storytime’s over. The end. You get why I get so mad now, and can we move on to pretending this conversation never happened?”

***

Katar nodded, slowly. “...Yes, I do. I do understand why you harbor hatred for the Empire. It’s personal. But...” He held up a hand at the swift raising of Rhagio’s head and the clenched jaw he already exhibited, “ _But_ , this is not your homeworld, either. Nor is it Imperial Center, and I may be an Imperial but that does not mean I’m cruel. I’m not that garrison commander, and I’m not going to turn into him, either. I have no intention of hurting you.” 

***

Rhagio  rolled his eyes . “Katar, you  _just_ pulled your blaster on me.” 

***

Katar snorted and shrugged,  dismissing it with a  shak e of  his head. “Bluffing.” 

***

“You know you’re not really giving me much to go on if you want me to trust you. But I don’t even know what you _want_ from me. If you even care about that. It seems to change from minute to minute and I can’t keep up with that. I can’t…” He broke off and ran a hand through his shock of hair, releasing an aggravated sigh. “You say you can’t read me, but I can’t read _you_ , either. It’s unnerving. I keep expecting to make you mad over something I don’t even _know_ about, and ending up a bloody mess on the ground.” 

***

Katar’s eyes softened. “...Are you afraid of me, then? Even with all the sarcasm and snappy comebacks?”

***

He got a shrug in return. “Well, _yeah_. Sometimes. Sometimes I’m terrified. I know what you’re capable of. I know what Imperials and Imperial commanders are capable of.” He gripped his elbows and stared into the fire. 

***

Katar thought he saw Rhagio suppressing a shudder as he curled into himself. He just watched him for a moment, noting how his fingers traced restless patterns over the skin above his elbows, and how his breathing seemed a little shaky despite an obvious and determined effort on Rhagio’s part to keep it even. A light night breeze ghosted over their camp, causing both men to shiver. Katar turned and leaned forward to reach into their new shelter, dragging out one of the blankets. He wrapped it around himself and extended a hand to Rhagio. “Come here.” 

***

Rhagio glanced back up and he stared at Katar’s outstretched hand, a hardness quickly forming behind his eerie white eyes. His lips narrowed into a thin line, and he wordlessly brought the bandanna back up to his face, tying it firmly in a knot behind his head. 

***

Katar could have kicked himself. Instead, he kept his proffered hand raised and amended his words. “...Would you come here?” 

***

“You’re not very good at this are you?” But slowly, Rhagio rose anyway. He crept his way around the campfire and sat down next to Katar, heaved a quiet sigh and resumed staring into the flames. 

***

As cautiously as he could, Katar curled an arm around Rhagio’s shoulders to envelop him in the blanket he’d had wrapped around himself. “I’m not a monster, Rhagio. I’m just a soldier and a human being. Nothing more.” Ever so slowly, he pressed Rhagio against him, rubbing his back and arms with the hand he’d curled around him. “...I won’t threaten you again, no matter how empty those threats have always been. Alright?” 

***

Rhagio let a little laugh escape, although it almost sounded more like a snort than a chuckle. “I think that’s the first time you’ve actually used my name.” But he rested his head, with equal caution, on Katar’s shoulder. 

***

“Mm.” Katar curled his other arm around him as well, gently hugging Rhagio to him. “As you say, I’m not very good at this.” He lightly brushed his lips against Rhagio’s temple before he rested his chin on the top of his head. 

***

Rhagio narrowly suppressed a shudder at the brief but gentle kiss, cursing both his knee-jerk reaction of flinching anxiety and also his very active libido for giving him butterflies in his stomach as if he were a hormone-addled teenager again. But still, he drew up his knees and leaned into Katar’s embrace all the same. 

***

As Katar closed his eyes, he listened to the small sounds of the night around them and to Rhagio’s quiet breathing. He could feel the other man’s heart beat through their contact, and as they sat in each other’s tentative embrace, he could notice Rhagio’s heart slow its pounding and his breaths ever so incrementally grow shallower. With a soft smile, he realized that Rhagio had fallen asleep in his arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is as far as we'd gotten in the RP, although we'd planned to go through several in-story weeks of this little circus. I still have the general outline of where the plot was supposed to go, but I haven't had the drive to really work on it much, considering all the other drawing and writing projects I have going on already. One day I hope to continue it, either as an RP or just on my own as a regular fic. But since I'm not sure if/when that would happen, I'm leaving it here in case someone else might enjoy it.


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